Rosyth Royal Dockyard Ltd is planning to dispose of radioactive materials by exporting them initially to Scandinavia for pre-treatment, before their return to the UK for disposal. The materials have arisen from the servicing of nuclear submarines operated by the MOD.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for determining applications made under Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93) in Scotland and has issued a consultation for comment.
The proposal is to transfer contaminated metal to a processing facility in Sweden. There the the waste will be smelted and the recovered uncontaminated metal will then be available for reuse.
Rosyth RDL was granted an authorisation to dispose of solid and radioactive wastes from re-fitting or de-equipping nuclear submarines and associated support activities in Dec 2002. Later in Apr 1996 an authorisation was obtained to dispose of gaseous radioactive waste from the same activities.
Vanguard Class nuclear submarine (Crown © 2007)
These authorisations are still in place.
Central Government decided to carry out these nuclear submarine support services at an alternative location which led to the need to decommission the buildings, plant and equipment related to the work at Rosyth Business Park.
An application was made in March 2003 to dispose of the decommissioned materials which resulted in a “multi-media” authorisation being granted in September 2004.
Rosyth RDL is required to minimise the volume of radioactive waste disposed of by transfer to other premises.
The company plans to send surface contaminated metallic waste to be smelted in Sweden and has submitted a further application to SEPA to this effect. The radioactive contaminants will be removed in the slag arising from the industrial smelting process and the resultant recovered uncontaminated metals will be recycled.
An expected volume reduction of the low level radioactive waste material of around 95% is expected through this process.
The intention is that radioactive contaminants removed during the smelting process will be returned to Rosyth RDL. These materials plus any secondary radioactive wastes such as filters, are intended to be sent for disposal to the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) near Drigg in Cumbria.
In fact Rosyth RDL already holds an authorisation under RSA93 to send low level radioactive waste to the LLWR. Under RSA93 the transfer of radioactive waste from one site to another constitutes a disposal. The current application is needed to permit the disposal by transfer from Rosyth RDL to the processing facility in Sweden.
The Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste Regulations 1993 also applies and SEPA says that it will not permit the transfer until approval has been granted by the competent authority in Sweden.
Currently the radioactive waste is accumulated and stored on premises designated as a Nuclear Licensed Site under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.
SEPA is consulting with statutory consultees under the RSA93 and says that it welcomes any comments others would wish to make on the application.
Further information
The consultation period closes on 13 July 2007 and further detail can be found on the SEPA website.