A new bunker designed to store low-level radioactive waste has opened in West Cumbria.
The £22 million facility, designed by LLW Repository Ltd, will have the capacity to hold 110,000 cubic metres of low-hazard nuclear refuse. The company, which built the facility at it’s site in Drigg, said that the bunker would become a vital storage device as UK’s nuclear decommissioning initiative continues to move forward.
Among the low-level nuclear waste, items will include protective clothing, demolition rubble and by-products from deconstruction. Dick Raaz, LLW Repository Ltd’s managing director, said that the Drigg site would become a vital organ in the UK’s low-level nuclear waste operations.
According to Mr Raaz, the firm was conscious of the fact that it would be essential for the country’s nuclear waste sector to have the facility available and operating at capacity when the decommissioning begins heavily.
Dubbed Vault 9, the storage facility has been designed with that in mind, and Mr Raaz said that the vault would be able to keep its doors open accepting waste, decommissioning collected waste and keeping operations up and running continually.
The Vault 9 storage unit has been estimated to be able to store waste for at least 10 years. Mr Raaz said the the project was important for the waste management firm, because it would allow the decommissioning process to begin even sooner.
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