Netherlands nuclear regulator, the Authority for Nuclear Safety & Radiation Protection (ANVS – Autoriteit Nucleaire Veiligheid en Stralingsbescherming) has granted the final permit to enrichment company Urenco for the construction and operation of a new radioactive waste storage facility at its Almelo site.
In addition to granting the final permit for the waste storage facility, ANVS also made three amendments to Urenco’s licence for the Almelo enrichment plant. In December 2023, Urenco announced plans to increase capacity at the Almelo plant by 15% in response to new commitments from customers. The project will see multiple new centrifuge cascades added to an existing plant at the site, adding about 750 tonnes of SWU a year. The first new cascades are scheduled to come online around 2027.
The amendments will allow Urenco to adapt the floor plan of its buildings to the new situation. Urenco will also be allowed to use a higher tube voltage (250 kV up from 200kV) for the x-ray equipment it uses to screen its centrifuges during assembly. Urenco will also be permitted to install two additional tipping autoclaves in the Central Services Building, which are used to take samples.
As to the waste storage, Urenco was last year granted permission to build the facility before a formal permit was issued. Following an inspection in October 2022, ANVS issued a warning to Urenco because radioactive material (activated carbon and waste oils) was being stored in a room that was not adequately fire-resistant. ANVS in April 2023 then issued a tolerance decision, allowing construction and use of a new storage facility, without the required permit until July 2024 so that Urenco could meet the safety requirements as quickly as possible. “Now that the final permit has been obtained, the tolerance situation has formally come to an end,” ANVS noted.
Waste from Urenco’s uranium enrichment activities at Almelo cannot be sent for storage at the Central Organisation for Radioactive Waste (Covra) before they are processed and so remain stored at Urenco until processing has taken place.
