Low Level Waste Repository

[2] The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), who owned LLWR at the time, announced in March 2008 that UK Nuclear Waste Management Ltd (a consortium led by the Washington Division of URS Corporation and including Studsvik UK, AREVA-NC and Serco Assurance) had been awarded the contract for the management and operation of the Low Level Waste Repository.

[3] This arrangement ceased when the LLWR was brought back under direct public management when it became a subsidiary of the NDA in July 2021.

[5] In 1988, a new system was introduced placing waste in containers rather than clay trenches later covered with stone and soil.

[6] In early 2008, Cumbria County Council granted permission for a new vault, Vault 9, to be built to accommodate about 700 ISO steel containers per year and be able to hold 5,500 ISO steel containers in total, giving an operational life of about eight years.

[9][10] In 2023, Nuclear Waste Services started capping and securing full trenches and vaults in preparation for permanent closure, a process that will take five years.