Introduction
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), in conjunction with the Department of Energy and Climate Change, periodically publishes an inventory of radioactive waste in the UK. This inventory provides a reference source of information for government and its agencies, and others with a role or interest in the management of radioactive waste.
The 2010 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory is the latest public record of information on the sources, quantities and properties of low level waste (LLW), intermediate level waste (ILW) and high level waste (HLW) in the UK. It comprises of a number of reports and additional detailed information on the quantities and properties of radioactive wastes in the UK that existed at 1 April 2010. The 2010 Inventory contains details, as of 1 April 2010, of over one thousand individual wastes that have been reported by organisations responsible for their management.
2010 summary
Visit the UK Radioactive Waste Inventory website for detailed reports and data sheets. These reports include:
- 2010 summary – summarises the 2010 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory, which is the latest public record of information on the sources, quantities and properties of Low Level Waste (LLW), Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) and High Level Waste (HLW) in the UK.
- Main report – The detailed document that provides information on volumes that exist today and will arise in the future.
- International data report – provides summary information from the 2010 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory to support the UK’s international reporting obligations to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
- A review of the processes contributing to radioactive wastes in the UK (the report published in 2008 has not been updated) – explains how and why radioactive wastes are produced in the UK. Its purpose is to inform those who have no involvement with radioactive waste about the primary processes that give rise to radioactive wastes and how these wastes are dealt with.
- Radioactive materials report – provides details of those materials that are not currently classified as waste, e.g. plutonium, uranium and spent nuclear fuel, but may be classified as such in the future.
How is radioactive waste produced?
As a pioneer in the development and use of nuclear technology, the UK has accumulated a substantial legacy of radioactive waste from various civil and defence programmes. Waste continues to be produced where radioactive materials are used. The nuclear power industry is the source of most radioactive waste in the UK. This includes waste from:
- manufacture of nuclear fuel;
- nuclear power stations which generate electricity;
- reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel;
- research and development programmes.
Reprocessing in the UK now only takes place at Sellafield in Cumbria, where spent fuel from most of the UK's power stations, together with fuel from overseas reactors, undergoes chemical processes to recover potentially useful uranium and plutonium.
The UK has ten operating nuclear power stations, and these generate about a fifth of the UK's electricity supply. Nine others, which have stopped producing electricity, are working towards being dismantled, but so far, following the removal of all the spent nuclear fuel, only relatively small amounts of mainly LLW have been removed. If new nuclear power stations are built, further radioactive wastes will have to be managed.
The manufacture of nuclear fuels produces a relatively small amount of radioactive waste.
Sources outside the nuclear power industry that contribute to radioactive waste in the UK include:
- defence activities
- hospital and industrial sources.
The main sources of defence waste are production of nuclear weapons and operation of the nuclear-powered submarine fleet. Smaller quantities arise from general use of radioactive materials within the armed forces and at defence establishments.
The remaining waste results from the use of radioactivity in medical diagnosis and treatment, and in industrial applications such as thickness and density measurement and weld checking.
Where is radioactive waste produced?
There are many hospitals and industrial, educational and research establishments that produce small quantities of radioactive wastes; their sites are not shown.
About 91% by volume of all radioactive wastes in the UK are produced in England, 6% in Scotland and 3% in Wales. Northern Ireland has no major waste producers.
In England the sites that produce most waste are Sellafield and the nuclear power stations. In Scotland they are the nuclear power stations and Dounreay. In Wales they are the nuclear power stations.
How much radioactive waste is there?
The 2010 Radioactive Waste Inventory describes the stocks of radioactive waste and radioactive materials held in the UK at 1 April 2010. It also predicts wastes and materials that could arise from operation and decommissioning of current facilities in the future.
The Baseline Inventory also includes radioactive materials that are associated with civil nuclear activities (i.e. plutonium, uranium and spent nuclear fuels). Although these radioactive materials are not currently classified as wastes in the UK, they may need to be managed as such in the long term. Thus the UK Government and devolved administrations decided that the Baseline Inventory comprises these materials for completeness. Note that radioactive materials associated with military activities are currently excluded.
As programmes for the operation and decommissioning of UK's nuclear facilities progress, new or revised information on higher activity wastes associated with these facilities is becoming available. The Baseline Inventory must therefore be updated on a regular basis.
A process for updating the actual waste inventory for disposal will have to be agreed between communities, Government and the NDA as the programme progresses. It must be transparent and include processes for indicating any changes to the type or amount of waste for disposal.
Baseline inventory volumes of waste and materials estimated for geological disposal, including all final packaging assumptions
| Waste/material |
2007 baseline inventory |
2010 baseline inventory |
| LLW (m3) |
16,600 |
13,800 |
| ILW6 (m3) |
364,000 |
490,0001 |
| HLW (m3) |
1,420 |
6,9102 |
| Spent fuel (m3) |
11,200 |
6,4403 |
| Plutonium (m3) |
3,300 |
7,8204 |
| Uranium (m3) |
80,000 |
106,0005 |
| Total (m3) |
477,000 |
631,000 |
(Source: p6, Radioactive Waste in the UK: The 2010 Estimate of Radioactive Waste for Geological Disposal)
1 The increase in ILW is due to the increased ILW arisings reported in Table 1 (available on p5 of the 2010 estimate of radioactive waste for geological disposal)
2 The 2007 baseline inventory did not provide HLW as a ‘packaged for disposal’ volume; rather it showed the volume of packages in storage at Sellafield. If the 2010 HLW estimate did not take into account final disposal canisters, as in the 2007 baseline estimate, the figure
would have been 1,330m3.
3 The decrease in spent fuel packaged volume is mainly due to increased reprocessing assumptions as reported in Table 1.
4 The 2007 baseline inventory did not report plutonium as a ‘packaged for disposal’ volume. The 2010 baseline estimate does now take into account assumptions about final disposal canisters.
5 The increase in uranium is due to the increased arisings reported in Table 1 (available on p5 of the 2010 estimate of radioactive waste for geological disposal)
6 Although waste in Scotland is included in the figures, the Scottish Government has its own policy for the long term management of HAW.
Further information
If you would like further information then please see: