Oil Immobilization Program at Sellafield: An Innovative Approach

Non-standard wastes — those defined as being both hazardous waste under the United Kingdom Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005 [1] and radioactive under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 [2] — pose particular, unique challenges for radioactive waste management organizations [3]. Treatment and disposal routes for such wastes are limited, in some cases non existent, and generally not cost effective. A non-standard waste of particular concern in the United Kingdom, and indeed on the Sellafield site, is that of radiologically contaminated waste oil. The optioning process for treatment of bulk contaminated waste oil on the Sellafield site has assessed a range of options including incineration, chemical decontamination, physical decontamination and immobilization. Immobilization has proved to be a potentially useful option for oil wastestreams that fail to meet waste acceptance criteria for incineration facilities. Experimental development work has been undertaken at Sellafield during 2006 to test the suitability of an innovative technology for the solidification of waste oil with a cross section of wastestreams from the site. These trials have demonstrated that this polymer system is able to successfully immobilize a range of aged, chemically and physically diverse contaminated oil wastestreams and thus provide a potential solution to the disposal problem posed by this wastestream.