Radioactive Substances Authorisation Assessments Case Study
Project: Radioactive Substances Act discharge authorisation assessments
Client: British Nuclear Group
The Challenge
RSA discharge authorisations are subject to periodic review and must be underpinned by detailed assessments of past, current and future discharges to demonstrate that impacts to public health are well within safe levels. As the largest and most complex nuclear site in the UK, the Sellafield site is a particular focus for regulatory attention.
British Nuclear Group needed to develop a long-term programme of research to provide a robust scientific basis for the Sellafield discharge authorisation and to support periodic Authorisation reviews on a three to five year cycle.
Wind Tunnel Tests
The Solution
Working closely with the client, and using our expert scientific knowledge of physical, chemical and biological processes governing the environmental fate of radionuclides in air, water and the food chain, we:
- combined industry standard modelling tools with software developed in-house to provide a state of the art, site specific, system for the prediction of environmental impacts;
- devised and implemented a programme of field and laboratory measurements of radioactivity in air, water, soil and food to continuously improve model predictions;
- characterised the site environment to enable key model parameters (e.g. atmospheric stability, building induced turbulence) to be accurately specified;
- provided high quality assessments of environmental impact to support each authorisation review.
The Benefits
- The impact assessments we have provided have been accepted by the regulator as a sound basis for the Authorisation reviews.
- Our client has been able to negotiate with the regulator from a firm scientific base and maintain the necessary licences to continue operations at the site.