Magnox Ltd is owned by Cavendish Fluor Partnership and operates ...
Transcript of Magnox Ltd is owned by Cavendish Fluor Partnership and operates ...
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Magnox Ltd is owned by Cavendish Fluor Partnership and operates on
behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
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Land Remediation at
Harwell
Jon Blackmore MSc(ENG), C.Geol, C.Env, C.WEM
Senior Project Manager
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Overview• Introduction
• Background to Magnox at Harwell
• Overview of land quality management at Harwell
• Case studies of two completed remediation projects
• Details of the Liquid Effluent Treatment Plant (LETP) remediation
project
• Conclusions
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Magnox Harwell Location
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6/15/20165
Harwell history: Pre-1930s Race Horse Stables
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6/15/20166
Harwell history: 1935-1945 RAF Airfield
Paratroopers and gliders
left RAF Harwell late on
5th June 1944 as the first
part of D-day operations
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6/15/20167
Harwell history: 1946-1990s – Nuclear R&D
GLEEP – the first operational
nuclear reactor in W Europe in
Europe
Fourteen reactors in total,
from dustbin-sized experiments to
25 MW materials test reactors
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6/15/20168
Harwell history: 1957 The problem with keeping the runways….
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Harwell history: 1990s to present day Decommissioning…
Over 140 facilities
removed, 11
reactors
decommissioned,
~23 hectares
delicensed
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The future – completion of decommissioning in support Harwell Campus
Diamond Light Source (Synchrotron)
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Magnox at Harwell
• Magnox is the site licensee for Harwell
• Magnox’s Parent Body Organisation (PBO) is
the Cavendish Fluor Partnership(CFP)
• CFP awarded a contract by the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2014 for
decommissioning of Harwell, Winfrith and the 10
former Magnox reactor sites
• In contrast to other NDA sites, the Magnox
Harwell site is leased to the NDA by UKAEA
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Land Quality Assessment
• Systematic process followed to identify potentially contaminated land
• Desk studies
• Site investigation, general surveys etc
• Potential liabilities prioritised based on a qualitative risk assessment methodology consistent with CLR11
• Work built into work programme for the site
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Information Management
• IMAGES - Information Management and Geographic
Evaluation System
• Oracle-based database system
• Currently used at Harwell, Winfrith and Dounreay,
wider rollout to Magnox underway
• IMAGES Modules
– Documents, Photos, Buildings
– Monitoring
– Intrusive Survey, Radiation Survey
– Site Assessment (‘Sentencing’)
• Focus on technical data
• Links to GIS
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Southern Storage Area
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Southern Storage Area:History• WWII RAF Munitions Store – “the
Bomb Dump”
• 7 hectares
• AERE/UKAEA took over in 1946
• Waste storage
• Waste sorting, sea dump drum packing
• 11 Landfill pits
• “Experiments”
• Wide range of contaminants:
– Beryllium
– Organic chemicals
– Radionuclides
– Asbestos
– Munitions
Southern Storage Area
“Old” Chilton School
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Reasons to remediate?
• Groundwater impact from waste pits
• Hazardous materials on or close to land surface
• Company mission to restore site
• Commercial value of land
• Stakeholder pressure:
– local residents/parents
– Local press…
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6/15/201617
Time for Stakeholder Management??
Courtesy Herald Series
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Waste Assay Facility
Beryllium Pits A,B & E Containment
Beryllium Pit D Containment
Chemical Pits
Chilton School
General Area Under Remediation
Site Offices, Hygiene Barriers and
Entrance
SSA - Remediation In Progress
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General site clean up
Layer Remediation
300mm Layer Removal
Surveying of exposed surface
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Pit Remediation
Size Reduction
Waste Bag
Beryllium Pit Excavation
A Completed Beryllium Pit
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SSA Remediation Summary
• The SSA had been characterised to best practice but…– Overall waste volumes x1.5
– LLW volumes x0.5
– Fibrous asbestos burials
– PCBs in old oils in pits
• Munitions expected (“bomb dump”!), but 25 visits by RAF Bomb Disposal team
• Storm damage to containment tents
• 1 in 100 yr. rain levels
• Successful remediation, enabled sale of land
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6/15/201622
SSA – Remediation Complete
Tree planting on remediated site
with local schoolchildren
and John Craven!
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Western Storage Area
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Contaminant SourcesThe Western Storage Area – Chemical Waste Disposal
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Concentrations of Chlorinated Solvents in Groundwater (Oct 2013)
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WSA Background• WSA used for licensed storage, treatment and disposal
of chemical wastes:
– 1970 to 1990s
– 24 Waste Burial Pits
– 4500 m3 of waste
– Hazardous chemical wastes, limited radioactivity
– Disposal was into shallow unlined pits
– Underlying chalk geology
– Major drinking water aquifer
• Remediation driven by groundwater contamination issue
• Detailed planning required due to the nature of the wastes
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WSA Remediation - Site Layout
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WSA Remediation
• Remediation successfully completed in 2004, 7 months ahead of
schedule
• No significant accidents
• 15000 drums of waste produced
• 90% sent for landfill disposal
• Most of WSA Waste consigned as hazardous, but 917 drums
classified as LLW – “WSA Difficult Wastes”
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WSA Residual “difficult wastes”
• No disposal route at the time (2005)
• Drum contents subject to a cement stabilisation process
to ensure they remained passively safe
• As a result of processing, more drums were no longer
LLW and were disposed of as hazardous wastes
• 276 remained which were still LLW = “WSA Difficult
Wastes”
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WSA Difficult Wastes - Characterisation
• With new waste routes becoming available, characterisation work
commenced in 2012
• Samples analysed to obtain RA fingerprint and chemical content
• All drums subject to high resolution gamma-spec
• Fingerprint from RA sample analysis applied to gamma spec results
• Use of historic data
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Disposal of the WSA Difficult Wastes
• Original drums in poor condition,
also over-weight for IP2 rating
• Overpacked into salvage drums for
which certificate of approval
obtained (IP1) and loading plan
• 265 drums consigned to Augean’s
site
• 11 contained PCBs at >50 ppb –
these had to be processed and
then incinerated
• Disposal completed in 2015
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Liquid Effluent Treatment Plant and Sewage Farm
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Site Location – LETP AND SEWAGE FARM
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LETP Operations
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Aerial View, Looking South (1990s)
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History1948 – 2014
• LETP operated to treat effluent
from the main nuclear site. The
treatment process removed
radioactivity before discharge of
the water to the River Thames
• The Sewage Farm was used
primarily for foul sewage
treatment, until site connection to
Thames Water foul sewer in
2003
2014 – 2016
• As the nuclear site ceased
operations, the LETP was
replaced by a smaller plant.
Buildings being demolished to
ground level
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LETP AND Sewage Farm – Regulatory Status
• The areas are physically separate from the main Magnox
Harwell site
• The LETP is part of the Nuclear Licensed Site
• The Sewage Farm is included in the area for the site
Environmental Permit for radioactive substances, but is
not part of the Nuclear Licensed Site
• Public right of way (Icknield Way) runs between the two
sites
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Land Remediation Project Objectives
• Removal of contaminated structures and soils
• Clean up such that the Environmental Permit and
Nuclear Site Licence are not needed – there are
specific, very stringent targets set by the Environment
Agency (EA) and ONR respectively
• Site to be suitable for any foreseeable future use
• Chemical contamination will be remediated where
found, but current evidence suggests not a major issue
• Chemical remediation targets based on EA and industry
risk-based guidance
• On completion of project, site will transfer back to direct
control of Harwell Campus
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Groundwater
• Limited evidence of radioactivity in groundwater from LETP operations
• Low levels of chlorinated solvents from WSA plume
• Five new boreholes just drilled, replacing five old ones
• Water table can be very close to ground surface –will influence timing of deeper excavations in northern part of site
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Icknield WayEx-Sewage
Farm Area
Liquid Effluent
Treatment Plant
(LETP) Area
Current Layout
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Main Works
Traffic
Route
Public Right
of Way
Diversion
Route
During Remediation
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Pond Feature
for Surface
Water
ManagementRe-opened
Public Right
of Way
After Remediation
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Zoning
• A key objective of the characterisation is to provide radiochemical
fingerprints to apply to waste arising from the remediation
• The zonation of the site is key to this – during remediation, waste
from each zone will have fingerprint for that zone applied, unless
evidence arises to the contrary
• Complicated by drainage, which will cross zones and may have
different fingerprint
• Based on desk study, 25 zones defined, with drains as a notional
26th zone
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Fingerprint Zones
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Characterisation Overview
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Enablers
• An environmental impact assessment was carried out in
2015
• Planning application submitted January 2016, planning
permission granted April 2016
• Service isolations:
– Gas main crossing part of site
– Electricity substation
• Site infrastructure
• Ecological surveys – protected species identified,
programme of work to capture and translocate
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Infrastructure
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Waste• Effective waste management key to
decommissioning and site restoration
• Waste makes up approximately half of the
project cost
• Key aspects:
– Packaging
– Assay
– Storage
– Approvals – Magnox/LLWR/Waste
Operator
– RAMT
– Swift turnaround!
– Loading plans
– QA
– Disposal routes
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Remediation
• The remediation work itself relatively straightforward!
• Use of excavators to dig soil, size reduce concrete and
cut up metal items
• Full time health physics presence
• Majority of waste will be placed into builders bags
• Bags checked for contamination, dose prior to transport
to waste assay facility
• Alternative containers for bulk metals, sludges
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Verification
• Monitoring of the excavation until it is believed
remediation criteria met
• Samples taken, area left open pending results
• Coordinate with ONR and EA at this point – they may
want access to take their own samples with respect to
delicensing and permit surrender respectively
• Data captured in IMAGES, delicensing case and de-
permitting cases submitted to ONR and EA
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Reinstatement
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Timescales
• 2015/16: Desk study, detailed designs, planning
application
• 2016/17: Characterisation, enabling works,
procurement, mobilisation
• 2017/18 and 2018/19: Remediation works, waste
processing and disposal
• 2018/19: Reinstatement
• 2019/20: Submit cases to remove Nuclear Site Licence
and Environmental Permit
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Conclusions
• Need to consider non-radiological issues as well
– eg chemicals and munitions
• Effective waste management is vital
• Early engagement with stakeholders will help
• Strong commercial drivers for remediation and
release of land at Magnox Harwell
• Remediation on a nuclear licensed site has
specific challenges…
• But these can be overcome – significant parts of
the former UKAEA land holding have been
released for development following successful
remediation
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