Support to Sellafield Environmental Services Framework.

Eden NE has led or contributed to a significant number of projects let under the Sellafield Ltd environmental services framework. These have included:

• provision of Environmental Cases;
• optimisation assessments;
• technology reviews;
• provision of environmental support to decommissioning projects;
• authorship of regulatory submissions such as Article 37 submissions;
• advice relating to regulatory regimes and permitting;
• advice relating to end state strategy;
• reviews of local beach use;
• coastal particles analysis;
• options for the transfer of materials enabling decommissioning of older facilities on site.

Examples of the projects performed on this framework follow.

• Beach Particle Detection Technology Review.

Sellafield Ltd's environmental permit includes a requirement for the company to carry out large-area beach monitoring and analysis for radioactive particles. These particles originate from historical discharges from the site. The permit also requires that Sellafield Ltd must demonstrate that Best Available Techniques (BAT) are being used for the monitoring programme. BAT reviews of the monitoring programme are conducted on a triennial basis.

As an input into the 2020 BAT review of the monitoring programme, Eden NE was commissioned to carry out a technology review of beach particle detection technologies. Working with leading industrial, academic and Sellafield Ltd experts in detector technology, we undertook a comprehensive review of recent developments in detector technologies and detector deployment techniques (e.g. unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles) and assessed their significance and suitability for the current beach monitoring programme. We used our review findings to identify relatively simple means of improving the current detector methods used at Sellafield, as well as identifying prospective technologies that may be suitable for beach monitoring following further research and development work.

• Preparation of Article 37 for Box Encapsulation Plant Product Store-Direct Import Facility (BEPPS-DIF) at Sellafield.

BEPPS/DIF is located at the Sellafield site in Cumbria and will receive and store ILW from Legacy Ponds and Silos (LP&S) and associated plants. Eden NE, under sub-contract to Golder Associates Ltd, was commissioned to prepare a submission, under Annex II of the requirements of the Commission Recommendation of 11 October 2010 on the application of Article 37 Euratom Treaty (2010/635/Euratom), relating to operation of BEPPS/DIF. Preparation of the submission required analysis of an extensive suite of engineering, environmental and safety case documents to extract key information related to the facility design, operation and radioactive inventory. Liaison with facility engineering and safety case teams was required to understand, and to assess the radiological consequences of, planned and unplanned releases of radioactive effluents.

A favourable opinion was delivered by the Commission in September 2018.

• Using the Concept of End States to Guide the Remediation of Sellafield.

Eden NE has reviewed the current Sellafield strategies against potential site end state requirements. The objectives of this work were to engage with the internal Sellafield planning, waste management and project communities to understand the interplay between their plans and meeting the current Site End State, and to look at the potential impact of applying alternative End States and approaches. Particular focus was on evaluation of the emerging Guidance on Requirements for Release from Radiative Substances Regulation (GRR) and PRC regulation, and new legislation to the development of Sellafield Interim and Site End States, and on making recommendations for future process improvements across the site. Key outputs of the project were the production of a discussion document examining constraints, conflicts and gaps in current plans, a presentation of the project findings to different groups within Sellafield and a workshop for senior managers and practitioners, and the production of a final client approved report.