Magnox Electric Ltd

LLW Trial Success

31 May 2008

Magnox Electric Ltd. has, in conjunction with its partners, VT Nuclear Services Ltd. And Direct Rail Services Ltd., successfully completed the second part of a trial to investigate the transport of low level waste (LLW) by rail.

The trials are part of the organisation’s commitment to reducing the environmental impact of its operations and driving innovation in all areas the business. Currently, LLW is transported from sites managed by Magnox Electric Ltd, by road to Sellafield and then by rail for the short journey to the Low Level Waste Repository near Drigg in Cumbria.

The ‘live’ trial took place on the 30th April with a loaded LLW container, dispatched from Berkeley site, being transferred the on to a rail wagon at Berkeley Railhead. The trial was the second stage in a feasibility study to investigate the option of running a number of LLW shipments by rail, as an alternative to some of the existing road movements.

Magnox North’s Head of Fuel and Waste, John Slaughter, said: “The two trials have been extremely useful both as a learning exercise and in demonstrating that we can transfer our expertise and experience in transporting used fuel by rail to other areas of our operations.

“The next step is to take the information gathered during the trials and pull together a feasibility report, which we plan to make available to our stakeholders for download from our website when it’s complete.”