Waste Operations (LLW Repository)
The Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria is the UK’s principal facility for the disposal of low level radioactive waste.
Responsibilities
The Low Level Waste Repository is a nuclear licensed site which enables the safe, secure, and environmentally compliant management and disposal of the UK’s low level radioactive waste.
The Repository is managed by Nuclear Waste Services and ensures that lower activity waste is managed effectively across the UK.
We have been safely managing and disposing of low level radioactive waste at the Repository since 1959. We have an outstanding track record in terms of safety, security and environmental stewardship.
What we do
The Repository is the nation’s principal disposal facility for low level waste (LLW) and is the only facility that is permitted to receive all categories of LLW.
We receive low level solid waste from a range of customers such as the nuclear industry, the Ministry of Defence, non-nuclear industries, educational, medical and research establishments.
Through the application of the waste management hierarchy, we enable customers to access alternative options that consider re-use, recycling or other means of disposal where practicable.
How we do it
Most waste, typically paper, cardboard, plastic, protective clothing, soil, rubble and metal, arrives at the site in large metal containers.
These containers are subjected to acceptance checks to ensure compliance with the Waste Acceptance Criteria (WAC). The LLW is then grouted in containers prior to disposal in engineered concrete vaults. The vast majority of waste is delivered to the site by rail.
Through the use of our Waste Services, Nuclear Waste Services also delivers safe and effective options to waste producers to reduce and recycle their wastes, with the aim of preserving capacity at the Repository site.
These routes are provided by commercial organisations working with NWS and include facilities for the treatment and recycling of metallic waste, incineration of suitable waste, the diversion of Very Low Level Waste (VLLW) to suitably licensed landfill sites and supercompaction of waste to minimise volumes sent to the Repository site.
The company’s National Waste Programme (NWP) is another key area in ensuring lower activity waste is managed effectively. The NWP team promotes the use of alternative waste management routes by educating and influencing the behaviours of waste producers.
Our history
The Repository has come a long way since World War II, when the site was home to a Royal Ordnance Factory.
Originally disposal of LLW at the Repository was based on landfill practices, with waste being tipped into clay-based trenches and covered with layers of stone and soil. This practice continued for over three decades.
Ownership of the Repository passed to the newly created British Nuclear Fuels Limited in 1971 and the site was managed as part of Sellafield until 2007, when LLW Repository Ltd (LLWR) was formed to hold the Nuclear Site Licence for the Repository.
The following year international consortium UK Nuclear Waste Management (UKNWM) won the 17-year contract to act as Parent Body Organisation (PBO) with responsibility for operating and managing LLWR.
In 1988 a new approach to the treatment and disposal of LLW in the UK saw the opening of Vault 8, an engineered facility for the long-term management of LLW. Under this new system, LLW was placed in containers and grouted prior to disposal in this vault. Some 22 years later, Vault 9 opened.
Planning approval was granted in 2016 for a programme that would permit the construction of a final cap over the trenches, current vaults and any new vaults. This secured the site’s future for decades to come. The initial stage of this major piece of work is now underway with the Southern Trench Interim Membrane (STIM) project - a major civil engineering effort to replace the interim protective layer over southern legacy waste trenches.
In addition, Vault 8 at the Repository reached a significant milestone in 2025 after 37 years of operation. The final waste containers have now been emplaced which marks the beginning of the formal vault closure process.
In July 2021 the PBO contract concluded and LLWR became a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). And more recently, January 2022, has come together with Radioactive Waste Management Ltd (RWM), to form a single waste organisation under the NDA, called Nuclear Waste Services.
More information about the history of the site
LLWR Socio-economic Fund
The LLWR Socio-economic Fund provides support to local initiatives/groups within a 30-mile radius of the Repository site.
Updates to this page
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LLW Repository site: Environmental Safety Case and Permit Approval Removal of data
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Updated to reflect Nuclear Waste Services becoming a single legal entity.
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First published.