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The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
(UKAEA) is beginning the clean-up of a former licensed waste
disposal area at its Harwell site in Oxfordshire, signing
a contract with Mowlem Remediation, the land-clean-up-specialist
operating as part of Mowlem plc.
From
the late 1960s until 1996, some of the chemicals used in Harwell’s
research laboratories were stored, treated and disposed of
at the site’s Western Storage Area (WSA), which was
designed as a licensed landfill for this type of waste. Now,
as Harwell is progressively decommissioned and land released
for alternative uses, the 24 pits at the WSA are being dug
up and the contents disposed of in licensed facilities off-site.
Stan
Gordelier, Director of UKAEA’s Southern Division said:
“This is another step forward in the transformation
of Harwell from a nuclear site into a conventional science
and business park. UKAEA is already experienced in land remediation
operations from its work on the Southern Storage Area which
has been shortlisted for a regeneration award by the Royal
Institute of Chartered Surveyors.”
It
will take 18 months of site work for the contractor, Mowlem
Remediation to clean-up the WSA, digging up each of the 4
metres by 4 metres by 4 metres deep waste pits, retrieving
the waste and packaging it into drums for disposal. Work on
the site will begin in spring 2004 and follows detailed planning
and design of the works between Mowlem Remediation and UKAEA.
UKAEA’s
Project Manager Paul Atyeo said: “Although the wastes
were safely stored in approved conditions, there was some
contamination of the ground water in the 1970s. UKAEA has
been operating a ground water containment plant to remediate
this pollution. As part of UKAEA’s mission to restore
the Harwell site, the contents of the waste pits will be dug
up and appropriately disposed of so that the underlying pollution
can be removed.”
Marcus
Foweather Director of Mowlem Remediation said: “We are
pleased to have produced a Remediation Plan which incorporates
remediation strategies, risk assessments, operational envelopes
and a waste management plan. The design element of the works
is complete and the Mowlem team is looking forward to the
physical site works commencing in earnest during spring 2004.
The work is programmed to be completed by July 2005 when Mowlem
Remediation will hand back a fully restored, ‘clean’
site to UKAEA having achieved the objective of removing the
source of the pollution from the Harwell site.”
The
WSA is roughly the size of a football pitch, none of the chemical
wastes disposed of at the WSA were radioactive.
Mowlem
Remediation is part of the international construction and
support services group John Mowlem & Company PLC.
Ends
For
more information please contact Rebecca O’Neil on 0117
929 2311.
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