The UK will be returning high-level waste (HLW) in the form of vitrified residues to Germany.
Article continues below
The second of three planned shipments of high-level radioactive waste has left the Sellafield site in northwest England and is being transported by rail and sea to its destination at the Isar interim storage facility in Germany.
Seven flasks containing high-level waste were transported from the Sellafield site in West Cumbria to the nearby port of Barrow-in-Furness by rail.
The flasks were then loaded to the specialist nuclear transport vessel Pacific Grebe, operated by Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS).
The vessel departed Barrow on 26 March and is now sailing to a German port where the flasks will be offloaded for their onward journey by rail to the Isar federal interim storage facility.
This shipment is being carried out in full compliance with all appropriate national and international regulations.
The waste results from the reprocessing and recycling of spent nuclear fuel at Sellafield, which had previously been used to produce electricity by utilities in Germany.
According to Germany's Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) the transport licence was approved in December, with the repatriation of German waste a binding requirement under international law.
According to German nuclear specialist GNS: "The waste is massively shielded from external radiation. In the reprocessing plant, the waste is mixed with liquid silicate glass and poured into cylindrical stainless steel containers, which are then sealed tightly after hardening.
"These containers, filled with the hardened glass mixture, are called "glass moulds". For transport and storage, the moulds are placed in ... massive, more than 100-tonnes cast iron and stainless steel containers, which have been proven in extensive tests to provide both strong shielding and to be safe under extreme conditions." ■
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that AgriAmerica Fruit Products has completed the revitalization and upgrade of a 69,000-square-foot grape juice processing facility located at 200 Water Street in the Village of Fredonia.