Waste

1
Waste Nuclear Materials Codes

• QA and Explained Presentation

2
Waste Reporting Codes
Q. Why are we changing how waste volumes are
reported? A. In order to be able to accurately
assess the movement of waste that is generated,
processed, received and shipped on a particular
site, and to reduce double counting of waste
volumes
Q. How will these waste volumes be recorded? A.
New cost elements for waste volumes will be
defined. These costs elements will be made up of
several sections which are combined to make a
single cost element code to describe the waste.

• Q. What are these sections going to be?
• A. There will be 4 sections
• Type of waste
• Phase the waste is in
• Physical location of waste
• Source/destination - Where it originated from or
  is being transported to

Q. How can a cost element be made from those
sections? A. Each section will have a list of
predefined codes. When combined they will make
up a 8 character cost element
3
Sections
Section 1 - Type of Waste or Nuclear Material
Section 2 Phase Where the waste or nuclear
material are in their lifecycle
4
Sections - Continued
Section 3 Location of Waste or Nuclear
Material Physically where the waste is.
5
Sections - Continued
Section 4 Source\destination of waste Nuclear
Materials Where the waste has come from or where
it is being sent to.
This is only an example of possible codes. (a
full listing of sites can be found on the last
page of this presentation)
6
Potential Waste Flows
7
Potential Waste Flows - Continued
8
Potential Waste Flows - Continued
NOTE SNM remains as arisings until it is
categorised as Waste. At which point it will
follow the same route as LLW/ILW/HLW
9
Waste Codes Details

• Q. When does the waste change from one code to
  another?
• A change in code is normally due to a physical
  action on that particular waste

Section 1 Type Normally stays constant
through the lifecycle, but may change in certain
circumstances Type can be altered when
radioactive decay means that the type of waste is
changed over time e.g. ILW decays to LLW When
this happens the type that is the new state of
the waste\material must be increased and the type
of waste that it originally was must be reduced
accordingly. e.g. 100m3 of ILW arisings in 2040
decays to 95m3 of LLW in 5 years (i.e. there is
no ILW remaining). The inputs should be
10
Waste Codes Details

• Section 2 Phase changes as the waste moves
  through the process.
• Arisings become preliminary packaged as the
  packaging process is complete.
• Preliminary Packaged becomes Final packaged when
  the packaging is suitable for final disposal
• Final Packaged becomes Disposal as it leaves the
  site to be disposed of or is disposed of
  permanently on site

Section 3 Location All waste that is
physically on the site is reported as such. The
code only changes to Sent to when the waste
physically leaves the site.
Section 4 Source\Destination Waste coming
onto a site from another site retains its site
code until it passes through a phase, e.g A to P
or P to F. Once it passes through a phase it
becomes onsite sourced. E.g. ILW, arisings,
on-site, sourced from Harwell has the code
ILWAOS12. Once the waste has been conditioned
and packaged it becomes ILWPOSSI (ILW, packaged,
on site, sourced on site) The waste then stays
as Sourced on Site (SI) until it is sent to
another site. When it is sent to another site
the source\destination changes from SI to the
code of its destination.
11
Example Typical Waste Flow
12
Example Complex Waste Flow
On Site Volumes (OS)
Off Site Output (sent to ST)
HARWELL
On Site Sourced (SI)
Site (XX)
Off Site Sourced (XX)
Sent off site to Dounreay
LLWAOSSI
LLWAST10
On Site Volumes (OS)
Off Site Output (sent to ST)
On Site Sourced (SI)
Site (XX)
Off Site Sourced (XX)
DOUNREAY
LLWAOS12
Preliminary packaged
LLWPOSSI
Sent off site to Drigg
LLWFST34
Packaged ready for Final disposal
LLWFOSSI
Off Site Output (sent to ST)
On Site Volumes (OS)
On Site Sourced (SI)
Site (XX)
Off Site Sourced (XX)
DRIGG
LLWFOS10

• Note if the waste was to be grouted at Drigg
  before disposal it would have
• Left Dounreay as Preliminary packaged LLWPST34
• Entered Drigg as Preliminary packaged LLWPOS10
• Undergone Final packaging at Drigg LLWFOSSI
• Before on site disposal LLWDOSSI

LLWDOSSI
Disposed
13
Programme Summary WBS

• Q. How does this tie into the PSWBS?
• The waste volumes should be reported at level 9
  (function) of the PSWBS. Where they occur is
  dependant on the type, phase and location of
  waste
• Arisings can occur in any leg of the PSWBS
• All other wastes must be reported under the Waste
  Nuclear Materials Management Category and
  matched to their corresponding type of waste at
  level 6 (type).
• Levels 7 and 8 (Operating Unit and Function) must
  be included.
• Level 9 is dependant on the phase of the waste as
  below

14
Waste Nuclear Materials QA

• Q. Is the intention for this system to track all
  process steps for conditioning waste arisings?
• No. Arisings should be declared once, when they
  are defined as waste, and dont need to be
  declared again until they become Preliminary or
  Final packaged.

• Q. How are existing waste quantities (stock)
  classified?
• In LCBL2 (2004) all existing waste nuclear
  materials should be declared in the first period
  of the LCBL. This will only need to be done
  once.
• This waste should be classified as on site
  sourced.

• Q. There is no code for VLLW, why?
• At the moment there is no national standard to
  classify Very Low Level Waste by. Until a
  standard has been established all VLLW should be
  classified in the LLW category.

• Q. Not all waste we currently track is measured
  in volume?
• For the purpose of this reporting all waste
  should be tracked in m3. If for example a waste
  is tracked in tonnes at site, the site should
  apply a calculation to estimate volume. The
  volume of gases should be reported as the
  external volume of the containers they are stored
  in. Any assumptions made in the calculations of
  volumes should be stated in the LCBL.
• SNM can be tracked in tonnes whilst it is still
  classified as SNM (and thus still an arising)
  Once it becomes a waste it must then be tracked
  in m3.

15
Waste Nuclear Materials QA

• Q. When are wastes such as materials used in
  buildings reported?
• Waste such as concrete and bricks used in the
  fabric of a building are reported when a building
  is demolished. At this point they should be
  reported as arisings, and reported again when
  they are sent off site or disposed on site

• Q. We have LLW going to Drigg that has been
  packaged but will be grouted at Drigg before its
  disposal. What phase should we report this at?
• LLW that needs to be grouted at Drigg should be
  reported as preliminary packaged i.e. LLWPST34 as
  it is not yet ready for final disposal

• Q. Some waste goes through many steps of
  treatment and packaging from Arising through to
  Final Packaged. When should it be declared as
  Preliminary packaged?
• This will mainly be at the discretion of the
  individual sites and any assumptions made should
  be stated in the LCBL document. If there is no
  distinct Preliminary Packaged stage then the
  Arisings can go straight to the Final Packaged
  phase once they are ready for Final Disposal.

• Q. In a particular reporting period of the LCBL
  (e.g. 1 year) a waste can pass through several
  Phases (e.g. Arising, Preliminary Packaged then
  Final Packaged). Should all Phases it goes
  through be reported for that year?
• Yes.

16
Waste Nuclear Materials QA

• Q. Is the intention to be able to track the
  amount of waste on a site at any point in time?
• No.
• This process will give the NDA information about
  total volumes of waste and how they grow over
  time. It will not be used establish amounts of
  waste on a site at any one point in time. This
  is why when waste pass from one Phase to another
  there is no need to declare the decrease from
  that phase

• Q. If a LLW Arising of 100m3 goes through a
  decontamination process and 50 of it stays as
  LLW and 50 is decontaminated and declared clean
  how is this reported?
• Assuming the resulting LLW is then preliminary
  packaged, it should then be reported as 50m3 of
  preliminary packaged LLW, and 50m3 of Non
  Hazardous Arisings in the period that the change
  takes place. (there does not need to be a change
  to the original LLW arising)

17
Waste Nuclear Materials Example Values
Below is a an example of how ILW waste volumes
could be recorded on a site

• Scenario
• Stock Arisings 350m3
• Furture Arisings 50m3 per year 2006 2010
• Treatment and Preliminary Packaging 100m3 per
  year 2006 2011
• Repacked into Final Packaging 150m3 a year 2038
  2041
• Sent off site to Final repository 200m3 a year
  2040 - 2043

NOTE These values would be further identified by
their relevant PSWBS code. See PCP-02-1 for full
details of submission
18
Full Site Code Listing