What is a GDF?
A Geological Disposal Facility, or GDF, is an underground facility designed to safely and securely dispose of our radioactive waste – specifically the most hazardous waste.
Nuclear Waste Services is the developer for GDFs in the UK.
A GDF consists of specially designed and engineered vaults and tunnels constructed deep underground.
Once radioactive waste is placed inside, the facility is permanently sealed. The design and engineering results in protection for hundreds of thousands of years without maintenance, allowing the radioactivity to fade away naturally.
The source of radioactive waste in the UK
Radioactive waste emerges from several sectors:
- nuclear power generation
- medical procedures and research
- industrial processes
- defence activities
The UK’s use of nuclear technology has provided multiple benefits, from powering homes to treating serious illnesses. This usage has resulted in various types of radioactive waste, including the most hazardous materials requiring careful management. You can find descriptions of the main radioactive waste categories here.
Materials for disposal
A GDF manages specific types of the most hazardous radioactive waste:
- high level waste from spent nuclear fuel reprocessing at Sellafield
- intermediate level waste from nuclear licensed sites, defence, medical, industrial, research and educational facilities
- specific low level waste unsuitable for the national Low Level Waste Repository
- spent fuel from commercial and research reactors
- UK-owned immobilised civil plutonium stocks
- uranium stocks – including that arising from enrichment and fuel fabrication activities (yet to be declared waste)
- defence programme materials
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) produces a tri-annual inventory of radioactive waste and nuclear materials in the UK From this, Nuclear Waste Services develops the Inventory for Geological Disposal (IGD) .
Current storage solutions
The UK’s radioactive waste is stored above ground in specially designed facilities – mainly at Sellafield in Cumbria and over 20 other sites nationwide. These stores are safe for around 100 years but are not a permanent solution.
They require constant monitoring, maintenance, and eventual replacement, as some waste remains hazardous for many thousands of years.
Surface storage is also more vulnerable to natural and human risks.
Investing in a GDF offers a safer, permanent solution by removing the need for future generations to manage the UK’s most hazardous radioactive waste. It also supports the drive for energy security and climate change commitments by enabling new nuclear energy.
Why is a GDF the preferred solution?
The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) is an independent advisory body, first established in 2003, that provides scrutiny and advice to Government on issues related to the management of radioactive waste in the UK. Its purpose is to provide transparent and open scrutiny of Government and industry plans on the storage and disposal of radioactive waste.
In July 2006 CoRWM reported to Government recommending:
- Geological disposal is the best available long term solution for the UK’s most hazardous radioactive waste;
- Safe and secure interim storage is needed in the meantime;
- Further research and development is needed.
This continues to be under review and remains the CoRWM’s position.
Their website provides a range of information, including annual reports on the progress towards the delivery of an operational GDF.
