Quintessa provides support to near-surface disposal programmes, from design optimisation through to long-term assessments of the impacts on the environment, in the UK and overseas.
A significant number of countries have used and continue to use surface or near-surface disposal for very low-level, low-level and short-lived intermediate-level wastes (VLLW, LLW & SILW), where to do so is a proportionate response to the hazard posed by the wastes. Quintessa has provided strategy development, environmental safety-case development, optimisation and assessment support to a range of clients in this area, in the UK and overseas. In particular, Quintessa provided significant levels of support to the 2011 Environmental Safety Case for the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR), and continues to support the LLWR programme at a range of levels.
Issues addressed in recent projects have included:
- Surface and near-surface disposal for LLW and SILW
- Silo designs for LLW, SILW and certain other ILW classes
- Landfill disposal of VLLW and lower activity LLW
- Near-surface disposal of specific waste classes, e.g. graphite
- The impact of environmental change on surface and near-surface disposal facilities
- Historic disposals of wastes to facilities that do not meet modern design requirements
- The provision of national and international training courses on near-surface disposal
Image courtesy of LLWR Ltd