Disposal: In conversation with Mike Pigott

Mike Pigott is our Director of Sites and Operations. He details key achievements and progress that have been made during a busy year at the Repository site.

We have seen another year of safe and secure operations at the Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria.

This will always be our priority. I was delighted that our high standards have again been recognised this year, as we received our 18th consecutive Gold Award and the RoSPA Order of Distinction – the largest occupational health and safety awards programme in the UK.

This record is even more impressive given how busy we have been, with far more operational and construction activities going on at the site compared to previous years, but we are not complacent and safety will continue to be our primary focus.

In addition, we grouted, sealed, and secured over 250 containers of nuclear waste ready for final disposal vaults at the Repository site.

We also completed the multi-year project to retrieve, transport and emplace over a thousand TRS drums (see ‘Case study – Treated Radwaste Store Drums, above).

As a result, significant volumes of waste no longer need to be disposed of in a GDF. We are dealing with these drums safely and many decades earlier than originally planned.

We’re undertaking work to support the long-term environmental compliance of the Repository site. This year, we have made significant enhancements to our vault 9 leachate management system. Its pumping chambers are being fitted with new pipework, radar detectors, flow meters, pipework, lifting beams and finally industrial grade pumps, with each 250kg pump being capable of pumping large volumes of water in a short period of time. This is detailed and technical work, but crucial to ensuring the safe operation of the Repository site.

We are carrying out important work on the final capping of legacy disposal trenches and vaults which are now full and ready for permanent closure.

Capping is a key part of the disposal lifecycle and will provide an engineered protective cover over the waste that has been disposed of in the trenches and vaults, in some cases since 1959.

Comprising of layers of material, totalling up to 10m thick, the cap will permanently protect people and the environment. Work has started on the southern trench interim membrane (STIM) which will involve placing a new membrane, or protective layer, over the legacy disposal trenches.

Mike Pigott, Director of Sites and Operations at Nuclear Waste Services