Formal approval for revised package design

Nuclear Waste Services continues to work with customers to safely dispose of legacy radioactive waste.

Customers can now safely transport contaminated chemicals after licensing approval was given for its TC14 drum to be used as a combination package.

Packaging Services Technical Manager, Wayne Jones, was involved in initial discussions. He said:

We were approached by Sellafield Ltd as they had large volumes of contaminated chemical waste in stores on their site. There was no compliant way to transport these containers to a suitable disposal facility in the condition they were in, so we needed a new approach.

We realised that the widely used TC14 drum would be the best solution, but some additional testing and rework of the current safety case was needed before it could be licenced as a combination package.

The TC14 was already licenced as a single package, but not a combination. After extensive testing, the redesigned TC14C drum has been licensed to carry inner containers of plastic, metal, or glass.

For Sellafield, this means greater efficiencies – they are able to pack more into the TC14C containers, and the approach will significantly reduce the time it will take for them to dispose of these chemicals.

Martin Walkingshaw, Chief Operating Officer at Nuclear Waste Services added:

This is a great example of what can be achieved through collaborative working – it’s another benefit of the One NDA approach that we’ve adopted over the last few years. Sellafield has a pressing need to consign surplus and degraded chemicals for treatment and disposal and we can now facilitate that with the TC14C drums. I don’t underestimate the team effort it takes to deliver the service our customers expect and thank everyone involved in this significant project.

Wayne added:

This is a great result all round. We’ll be sending all the relevant documents to Sellafield so they can start shipments to the final disposal site as soon as possible, and in the longer term we hope that other customers will realise the potential of the TC14C combination drum.

If you would like more information, please contact our customer team.