Southern Storage Area, UKAEA, Harwell

This 70-hectare area of the Harwell facility was remediated in order to gain exemption from inclusion in the main site NII licence. Located adjacent to Chilton County Primary School, the land will ultimately be re-instated as a public amenity space as part of a larger development for housing.

The site was originally used as an ammunitions storage area by the R.A.F. and subsequently for storage, treatment and disposal operations by UKAEA.

The remediation works included the careful excavation of 170 thousand cubic metres of spoil, under a strict monitoring regime to ensure the final land forms are free from unexploded bombs and waste materials.

The main hazards were associated with waste products dumped in pits totalling four thousand cubic metres in volume. These included hazardous chemical waste, a wide variety of isotopes including plutonium, uranium and strontium, together with beryllium oxide which has harmful characteristics similar to those of asbestos.

This aspect of the work was being undertaken in containments that were subject to constant filtered air extraction to eliminate airborne contamination.

Excavated materials were 'double-bagged' in cubic metre batches for full assay prior to despatch into the appropriate waste stream.