UK Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) has delivered the first rail shipments of 280,000 tonnes of aggregate to the Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) site at Drigg in Cumbria. The aggregate will be used to place new protective layer over historic trenches at the LLWR form a 100-year barrier for nuclear wastes. The first rail deliveries of the aggregate arrived on site in February and the rest will be delivered over a three-year period.
Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), which manages the disposal of the UK’s low level radioactive waste, is working on the final capping of legacy disposal trenches and vaults to permanently dispose of the radioactive. This phase of the capping work, known as the southern trench interim membrane (STIM) project, involves placing a new membrane, or protective layer, over legacy disposal trenches which will remain in place for up to 100 years. The final closure of the Repository is expected in 2135. The completed cap will be 10 metres thick.
STIM will replace a current interim membrane over part of the legacy disposal trenches and will permanently protect people and the environment while the radioactivity decays.
“This is a first of a kind activity in the UK, and it’s fantastic to see the first train load of aggregate arrive by train onto our site,” said Mike Pigott, NWS Repository Site Director. “This work enables NWS to deliver a safe and secure long-term approach to protecting the environment and people for generations to come.” He added that collaboration with NTS’s rail division, Direct Rail Services (DRS), “has played a pivotal role for us, with their launch of a new rail service for this project yielding significant environmental benefits”.
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It’s first time DRS has used its JNA-Z box wagons, with each train making the journey from Shap quarry to the Repository to deliver over 750 tonnes of material. “Rail is the obvious choice for bulk movements like these, taking many thousands of lorries off the road, reducing congestion, and improving the environment,” said Gottfried Eymer, NTS Rail Managing Director. “This phase of the project will see 46,000 tonnes of aggregate delivered by 64 trains, saving an estimated 2,320 lorry journeys, that’s over 150,000 miles.”
In 2024, Civil Engineering firm GRAHAM was awarded a four-year contract for the works, which started in September. “It’s fantastic to see the start of rail deliveries to site, marking the beginning of an extensive programme of works, noted GRAHAM Contracts Director Alastair Lewis. “We have been managing and carrying out aggregate train deliveries since 2018, and this experience has been invaluable in ensuring a smooth and efficient transition to this new phase of the project.”
NWS and NTS are both part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority group. NTS was launched in April 2021 bringing together Direct Rail Services (DRS), International Nuclear Services (INS) and Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL) – its respective rail and shipping divisions – into a single transport organisation.
The Low-Level Waste Repository in Cumbria is the UK’s primary LLW disposal facility. In the last decade low level and intermediate level waste has been dealt with more sustainably. Alternative options such as re-use, recycling, decontamination, incineration, and specialised landfill, (for waste with the very lowest levels of radioactivity), are now preferred with disposal seen as a last resort.
