Galson Sciences Ltd - Legacy waste facility (ponds/silos) remediation and decommissioning
We worked closely with British Nuclear Group Sellafield Limited (BNGSL) on the conduct of a Baseline Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) study for remediation of Legacy Ponds and Legacy Silos (LP&LS) facilities on the Sellafield site. The following facilities were considered: the Pile Fuel Storage Pond, the Magnox Fuel Storage Pond, the Magnox Cladding Wet Storage Silos, and the Dry Storage Silos. The BPEO study considered options for:
- Management of the LP&LS facilities prior to and during the retrieval of waste.
- Storage of retrieved material prior to treatment.
- Processing of retrieved material into a form suitable for temporary on-site storage and disposal in a final repository.
- Management of aerial and liquid effluents resulting from remediation so that they can be safely discharged with the minimum environmental detriment. This necessarily included consideration of waste avoidance, recycle and re-use, with discharge as the least preferred choice.
This work has involved development of briefing materials for stakeholder consultation, facilitation and reporting of stakeholder consultation, drawing out guiding views and statements for use in plant-level BPEO studies, and drawing out lessons for BNGSL management on lessons learned from conduct of the BPEO study.