Our Sellafield - May 2021

Business Our Manifesto Environment Safety 17 We manage lots of different types of waste at Sellafield, but some of our most challenging waste disposals are not only radioactive, they are hazardous as well. Asbestos waste is dangerous and due to the age of our facilities, can be found in buildings across the site. It has to be handled safely and in accordance with the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. At Sellafield, asbestos waste can include PPE, fire doors and building cladding, which is wrapped to meet the regulations. Historically, our approach to disposing of this waste, was to fill 200 litre drums with waste and then transfer in a full height container to a specified landfill site. This process was not an efficient use of space and over time a backlog of asbestos waste developed on the site. Our off-site disposals team now manage asbestos waste so that it can be consolidated from a number of different workstreams in one disposal package. This new process has already led to the removal of 5 full height ISO-freight containers of asbestos waste. We’ve already removed 100m3 of asbestos waste from the site, with another 50m3 to follow shortly. The contents of these containers could not have easily been managed as individual or plant specific disposals. Gareth Kendall, Despatch Manager, said: “I am really pleased that we’ve delivered these improvements in house. “ They’ve led to a far more efficient process for the management and disposal of asbestos waste, which is removing this hazard from the Sellafield site. ” This was a disposal route which was blocked, and which is now flowing with great success.” Work is now ongoing to identify further improvements, including a dedicated container for soft asbestos waste. This container could be reused, rather than buried – helping deliver the waste management hierarchy commitment to re-use wherever possible. Waste management is an essential part of our mission. The Waste business unit within Remediation is working to ensure our waste management processes, procedure and disposal routes are fit for purpose. This is especially important as the volume of waste we manage grows. Reducing the asbestos waste risk at Sellafield BAGGED: Asbestos waste ready for disposal NEWS WE CARE ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENT