N-Base Briefing 251 - 22nd October 2000
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Dounreay shortage means Vulcan waste for Drigg dump

Low-level radioactive waste from the Ministry of Defence's HMS Vulcan nuclear submarine reactor base may be taken to the Drigg dump in Cumbria, near to Sellafield, because there no room in facilities at the adjacent Dounreay complex.

This brings the likelihood of radioactive waste transports from Caithness through the length of Scotland. It is estimated that up to 50 drums of low level waste will be taken from a temporary store at HMS Vulcan.

HMS Vulcan is operated by Rolls Royce for the MoD. It develops reactors for the UK's nuclear submarines and has been trying to solve long-standing problems in the reactors (See below). The reactor at Vulcan is the only one operating at the Caithness complex. Usually all wastes from HMS Vulcan are disposed of either in Dounreay stores, dumps or via liquid discharge facilities. However decommissioning and decontamination of polluted areas in and around Dounreay has filled the existing low-level pits.

News of the proposal emerged following the formal advertisement of an application by the Ministry of Defence to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for renew waste discharge permissions. As well as the usual list of national bodies and regional and local organisations being consulted, the list included Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council - the local authorities for the Drigg dump.

As a military establishment Vulcan is not subject to the same regulatory controls as civil sites. Rather than SEPA issue an authorisation, as in civil sites, there is instead a 'Letter of Agreement' on the discharge of solid, liquid and gaseous radioactive wastes. Solid and liquid wastes are disposed of via the Dounreay waste pathways. Details of the application are only available from SEPA's office in Thurso and Dingwall and have not been published on SEPA's internet site.

News in Brief

More UK submarine problems

Urgent checks and repairs are to be carried out on all 12 of the UK's 'hunter-killer' nuclear submarines because of concerns of possible leaks from welds in the reactor cooling systems. The recall of the vessels follows inspection of HMS Tireless in Gibraltar, where she has been since May after a leak developed in her reactor cooling system. The problems with welds in the coolant system have proved to be more serious than first thought. All the submarines are powered by the PWR1 reactor, developed like the later PWR2 model at HMS Vulcan adjacent to Dounreay. Leaks in the coolant system has been a long-standing problems with the reactors and HMS Vulcan has carried out a GBP3 million programme in the mid-1990s to try and solve the problem. A number of the submarines are already in the Faslane or Devonport naval dockyards because of either other problems, or because of existing concerns over problem welds in the cooling systems which could result in a serious radioactive leak. The Ministry of Defence has admitted that a small amount of radioactive liquid was discharged into the Mediterranean as a result of the leak on HMS Tireless.

Sodium delays

Regulatory approval from Euratom is still awaited for the new plant built to deal with 1,500 tonnes of radioactive liquid sodium used to cool the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) and 57 tonnes in the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR). The GBP17m plant was built in the turbine hall of the DFR by NNC Ltd and AEA Technology Ltd. The contaminated sodium will be treated to produce a salt residue which will be discharged into the Pentland Firth. The task presents serious problems because sodium ignites on contact with air or water. The Scottish Executive ruled that the new treatment plant and the waste receipt and characterisation facility at Dounreay must be subject to approval by the Euratom Treaty. The executive said that as well as approval from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency the plants and their environmental discharges must also be approved under Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty which relates to the possible international impact of discharges.

Euratom cuts

The European Commission is proposing to cut 93 jobs at the Euratom nuclear safeguards office. At present there are 272 staff at the safeguards office which is responsible for ensuring plutonium and uranium is not diverted from civil to military use.

Fuel to France

The Japanese nuclear industry is near agreement to ship about 600 tonnes of spent fuel to the French reprocessing plant at La Hague. Japanese staff will also be trained at La Hague in preparation for operating the Rokkasho reprocessing plant in Japan which is expected to be completed by 2005.

Radioactive soil

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is moving forward with a proposal to allow nuclear reactor operators to sell contaminated soil and ash for use in the construction of buildings and roads, golf courses and other commercial activities.

Gulf War Syndrome

A study carried out at the Gulf War Illness Research Unit at King's and St Thomas' Hospitals in London has found a higher incidence of Gulf War Syndrome among the lower ranks of veterans than more senior colleagues.

Call for more nuclear power

The Supporters of Nuclear Energy pressure group has told the UK prime minister Tony Blair that nuclear power is the only way to combat climate change and global warning.

BNFL still long way to go

Sellafield operators British Nuclear Fuels has still failed to meet a key requirement in a regulatory report on the plutonium fuel fake monitoring scandal. The key Nuclear Installations Inspectorate recommendation was that BNFL explain how and why senior managers knew monitoring data was being falsified but did nothing about it.

Transports stopped

The re-starting of spent fuel shipments from Germany to France for reprocessing has been delayed. German regulators had approved eight shipments - the first in two years after all transports were halted when widespread contamination was found on flasks and railway wagons. Now France has said it will not accept any more German spent fuel for reprocessing until Germany accepts the return of high level wastes from fuel already reprocessed. However, Germany has no facility for the waste. Residents along the proposed rail route and environmental groups are also taking legal action in Germany to try and stop the transports.

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