The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said Wednesday that it has begun preparing a new shipment of highly active nuclear waste to Japan as the regulator continues cleanup efforts at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria.
The five-flask transport, which involves the shipment of 132 canisters by rail from Sellafield to Barrow-in-Furness, is the sixth such shipment for the NDA’s Vitrified Residue Returns program, according to Wednesday’s announcement, which noted that this is the 18th such shipment from Europe to Japan since 1995. The Vitrified Residue Returns’ goal is to return foreign-owned waste stored in the U.K. to its country of origin.
The transport flasks will be loaded onto the Pacific Grebe, a nuclear cargo vessel that will travel to Japan without any other planned stops. The route will be withheld until several weeks after the vessel embarks. Vitrified residue, which is the physical form of highly active waste, is a solution of radioactive waste and molten glass mixed in a stainless steel canister that cools and forms an insoluble glass block.
In a separate effort, the first of six 12.4-ton stainless steel doors — which will serve as access points for waste retrievals at one of Sellafield’s most hazardous buildings, the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo – has arrived, according to an NDA announcement Wednesday.
The silo contains waste from nuclear-weapons production activities dating back to the 1940s.
The six silo doors are scheduled to be installed by the end of the year and ready for waste retrievals starting in 2020. According to NDA, the doors weigh as much as 150 “grown men” and stand 7 meters tall and 4 meters wide. The first door was successfully lifted into a 40-ton, 9-meter wide frame on the side of the building after arriving in early August, the announcement said.
