Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd -Non-radioactive waste

Non-radioactive waste

Waste is the product of decommissioning.

People often think instinctively of radioactive waste when decommissioning is mentioned - but dismantling any large industrial site like Dounreay also generates significant quantities of non-radioactive waste.

This ranges from the conventional rubbish generated by office workers and catering wastes through to building materials, rubble and more hazardous items such as asbestos.

Dounreay has adopted an environmental management system that aims to prevent waste arising in the first instance.

Where this is unavoidable, the site looks for opportunities to recycle rather than dispose.

Disposal is unavoidable for some items, such as asbestos stripped from redundant buildings awaiting demolition.
Companies licensed to manage and dispose of asbestos are used for this.

Other hazardous wastes can include chemicals no longer needed by laboratories that are redundant. Old oils and solvents also need managed carefully. Again, this is disposed of through licensed contractors. Other special wastes can include lead, acid, and alkaline and nickel cadmium batteries.

An increasingly important element in waste management practice is recycling, however. Among the materials recycled are scrap metal, plastics and papers. Between April 2005 and November 2008, 138 tonnes of paper and cardboard was sent for recycling. In September 2008 alone, 70 tonnes of metal was recycled.

The collection, recycling and disposal of non-radioactive waste at Dounreay is carried out by Johnson Controls, the site’s facilities management contractor.