New waste facility

A new facility is being constructed at our Winfrith site to package waste from dismantling the two remaining reactors – Dragon and the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR).

The recent concrete pour for the base slab went to plan – paving the way for the next stage of construction. 

The 10m wide, 20m long and 10m tall building known as a mini-MILWEP (Modular Intermediate Level Waste Encapsulation Plant) is a crucial part of the site’s reactor decommissioning process.

How is the waste packaged?

• It is remotely retrieved and placed in steel baskets.
• Singular baskets are lowered into a 6m3 concrete box and a temporary lid is fitted.
• The package goes to the mini-MILWEP to immobile the waste by pumping cementitious grout inside.
• When that has cured the box is closed with a reinforced concrete lid.
• The box is placed in a storage facility for optimum curing.
• It is then exported into long-term storage off site.