People in North West England are benefitting from £154 million in government funding to develop specialised capabilities to enable the disposal of the UK’s civil plutonium inventory.
100 jobs will be supported, the majority in Cumbria, after the government decided to immobilise the material, a product of nuclear fuel reprocessing, which will mitigate the long-term security risks.
This major investment, spanning five years, will allow the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority group, working with supply-chain partners, to design, install and operate specialist laboratory facilities at Sellafield, where experts will test and prove the technology that will be used to immobilise the plutonium, locking it away in a stable form.
Work will focus on early research and development for the programme over the next two years, with 50 people already in post.
In addition, £2.5 million is being invested in establishing a £5 million Plutonium Ceramics Academic Hub in partnership with the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield, which is central to developing the technical expertise and subject matter experts needed for the unique work.
NDA Group CEO, David Peattie, said
The NDA group is already leading the way in nuclear decommissioning and safely managing the UK’s most hazardous radioactive materials.
This government investment will allow us to drive forward this important national policy, building cutting edge facilities and growing world-leading expertise and capability in plutonium immobilisation, providing a safe, secure and permanent solution.
It’s a strong vote of confidence in our ability to safely, securely, and sustainably deal with the UK’s civil nuclear legacy to benefit future generations.
Minister for Energy Michael Shanks said
Cumbria has a proud nuclear history, and this new investment will unlock pioneering technology to manage our nuclear waste.
Alongside the 100 jobs from this research, thousands more will be supported over the course of the plutonium immobilisation programme and see billions invested in the region, boosting the local economy.
Currently, the UK’s civil separated plutonium inventory is safely and securely stored at Sellafield, in line with regulatory requirements.
There are two technologies for immobilisation being explored, Disposal MOX (DMOX) which creates ceramic pellets designed for disposal, and Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) where high pressures and temperatures are used to create a ‘rock like’ ceramic material.
Progress is already underway, with two new state-of-the-art laboratories being installed at Sellafield to develop and prove the technologies.
Once immobilised the material is intended for final disposal in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) and NDA group subsidiary, Nuclear Waste Services, is leading work to ensure the final waste form is suitable for a GDF.
Plutonium work is uniquely challenging due to the material’s hazardous nature which means stringent arrangements need to be in place for researchers to work safely and securely with the material and develop these technologies.
Alongside this research and development investment, the next phase involves seeking approval for a major plutonium disposition programme.
This will require the construction of a nuclear material processing plant and interim storage capability at Sellafield, bringing major investment to the area and supporting thousands of skilled jobs for decades to come.
