The Netherland Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS) has granted the final permit to Urenco, the uranium enrichment company, for the construction and operation of a new radioactive waste storage facility at its Almelo site. Last year, Urenco was granted permission to build the facility prior to the permit being issued.
In the autumn of 2022, Urenco received a warning from ANVS after an inspection. ANVS said that radioactive material (activated carbon and waste oils) was being stored in a room that was not sufficiently fire-resistant at Almelo.
ANVS said in April 2023 that although there was no immediate danger to people and the environment, ANVS still issued a 'tolerance decision', allowing the construction of a new storage facility, without the required permit having been granted in advance. This was done so that Urenco could meet the safety requirements as quickly as possible.
At the time of issuing its decision, ANVS said it “only tolerates [permit] violations either in the event of force majeure or in a transitional situation and if the situation does not lead to major environmental or safety risks. We have assessed that there is force majeure for the storage of the radioactive material at Urenco. The company may therefore create and use a new storage facility without a permit until 1 July 2024.”
“Now that the final permit has been obtained, the tolerance situation has formally come to an end,” ANVS has recently noted.
Radioactive waste from Urenco's uranium enrichment activities at Almelo cannot immediately be sent for storage at the Central Organization for Radioactive Waste (COVRA). The waste must first be processed by the Urenco. Then it can be transported to COVRA which is the only storage facility for radioactive waste in the Netherlands. The radioactive material must therefore remain stored at Urenco until that processing has taken place.
In addition to granting the final permit for the waste storage facility at Almelo, ANVS has also made three amendments to Urenco's license for the plant. The company has the option to adapt the floor plan of its facility to the new situation. Urenco is also permitted to use a higher tube voltage for its X-ray equipment. The company uses these devices to screen its centrifuges during assembly. In order to use a new type of centrifuge, Urenco needs equipment with a higher tube voltage (two hundred and fifty kilovolts) than it is currently allowed to use (two hundred kilovolts)) according to the permit. In addition, Urenco may install two additional tipping autoclaves in the Central Services Building. These devices are used to take samples. Urenco will have the ability to take more samples at the same time by installing these additional tipping autoclaves.
Urenco announced plans last December to increase capacity at its Almelo plant by fifteen percent in response to new commitments from customers. The project will see multiple new centrifuge cascades added to an existing plant at the site. This will add about seven hundred and fifty tons of SWU per year. The first new cascades are scheduled to come online at Almelo around 2027.