Veolia Environmental Services has been granted a permit by the UK Environment Agency to treat low-level radioactive waste (LLW) at its Ellesmere Port high temperature incinerator (HTI).

The permit allows the treatment of materials "lightly contaminated with radioactive materials," which will come from hospitals, or industry, Veolia said.

Around 1000 tonnes of LLW are expected each year, Veolia said. This represents about 1% of the incinerator’s capacity.