Low Level Waste Repository
Drigg Low Level Waste Repository at Drigg village, on Cumbria coast, is the UK's low-level radioactive waste repository located on the West Cumbrian coast, on the seaward side of the Cumbrian Coast Line, approximately south east of the Sellafield nuclear site. The site stores waste from Sellafield, MoD sites, nuclear power stations, hospitals, universities, medical companies and the oil industry. It has been operating since 1959.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced in March 2008 that UK Nuclear Waste Management Ltd had been awarded the contract for the management and operation of the Low Level Waste Repository.
In early 2008, Cumbria County Council granted permission for a new vault, Vault 9, to be built. Vault 9 is expected to accommodate about 700 ISO steel containers per year and be able to hold 5,500 ISO steel containers in total meaning that it will have an operational life of about eight years. The vault opened for use in 2010.
In 2015, a report from the Environment Agency acknowledged that the site would be disrupted in the future by coastal erosion and flooding, and placed requirements on LLWR Ltd to maintain a programme of coastal monitoring and to keep up-to-date with research and development on the long-term effects of climate change.
