Conceptual design of an underground radioactive waste repository

Between 1989 and 1997, Britain's nuclear waste management agency Nirex deve loped a comprehensive design for an underground radioactive waste repositor y next to the BNFL Sellafield works in Cumbria. Using a network of rock tun nels up to 1 km deep, the facility was intended to accommodate up to 275 00 0 m(3) of intermediate and low-level nuclear waste, However, the project wa s halted when a planning application for an underground rock characterizati on laboratory-to confirm the suitability of the site-was rejected. This pap er explains the historical Sellafield design-further development of generic design solutions for alternative sites will build on this work.