Treatment and packaging
Treatment and packaging are two separate but important parts of the waste lifecycle. We’re looking to reduce waste volumes and ideally re-use and recycle, helping us to save money alongside the safe management of radioactive waste.
Waste hierarchy
Waste is only disposed of if it cannot be used in alternative ways.
We use a ‘waste hierarchy’ in all of our waste management activities to better characterise materials and identify ways to avoid creating waste. We also identify new opportunities to re-use or recycle materials, and physically reduce the volume of the remaining waste.
The volumes of waste going to disposal at the Repository site in Cumbria have been driven down greatly over the years due to the effective application of the waste hierarchy.
By applying the waste hierarchy, we are protecting capacity at the Repository, accelerating decommissioning, and achieving efficiencies and value for the UK taxpayer.
Treatment of waste
Treatment minimises the volume of waste we send for disposal and maximises the waste we can re-use or recycle.
We provide a range of waste treatment options for optimised and efficient waste management routes.
Safely re-using and recycling waste is far more efficient and less costly than permanent disposal. We treat the waste to avoid disposing of it or to minimise the volume being disposed.
“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.”
Howard Falconer, Head of Waste Services
Packaging of waste
We can’t treat waste 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.
Creating a ‘one-stop shop’
1,600t
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 from 2023 to 2024
£60m
Overall, we’re diverting 98 per cent of waste from disposal at the Repository site in Cumbria. In 2023 to 2024, this work saved nearly £60m
20,000t
Diverting waste helped avoid around 20,000 tonnes of CO2 from 2023 to 2024 – the equivalent of more than 4,000 hot air balloons
