Treatment and Packaging: In conversation with Howard Falconer

Howard Falconer is our Head of Waste Services. He describes the importance of treatment and packaging in securing value for the UK taxpayer.

Treatment is all about minimising the volume of waste we send for disposal and maximising the waste we can re-use or recycle. Why? Because safely re-using and recycling waste is far more efficient and less costly than permanent disposal.

We’re harnessing treatments such as metal recycling, incineration, and supercompaction. And if something needs disposal, it’s conditioned so that it takes up as little of the finite space that there is available.

We can’t do any of that without the right packages – we need to safely move and transport the waste for treatment or disposal – and we need the right packages to do that. We are working to standardise the packaging for radioactive waste, establishing a standard catalogue of packages for all of the different waste types.

It’s been another great year. More than 1,600 tonnes of metal, around 3,000 metres cubed of combustible waste, and 5,000 metres cubed of very low level waste were all diverted for recycling.

Overall, we’re diverting 98 per cent of waste from disposal at the Repository site in Cumbria. In the past year alone, this work has saved nearly £60m – on top of more than £900m saved through this work over the past decade. It’s benefiting the environment too; this work helped avoid around 20,000 tonnes of CO2 this year – the equivalent of more than 4,000 hot air balloons.

Where disposal is necessary, we’re working for this to be as efficient as possible, as this year’s disposal of more than 1,000 TRS drums proved (see ‘Case Study – Treated Radwaste Store Drums’).

As we deliver our mission, we’re working more closely than ever with our customers. NWS colleagues are on site, providing insights and support at the point of decision-making.

We’re harnessing the expertise of the supply chain, sharing customer demands and developing longer-term contacts to provide greater certainty.

We’ll work closely with our partners on developing innovative ways to treat bulk or problematic wastes like asbestos, made possible through the new Asbestos Innovation Partnership. We’ll also continue to support Sellafield and others developing new technologies, such as options for thermal treatment of the most hazardous wastes, so that together we can advance waste management and achieve efficiencies and value for the UK.

Howard Falconer, Head of Waste Services at Nuclear Waste Services