scholarly journals Resource and waste quantification scenarios for wind turbine decommissioning in the United Kingdom

Author(s):  
Kiran Tota-Maharaj ◽  
Alexander McMahon

AbstractWind power produces more electricity than any other form of renewable energy in the United Kingdom (UK) and plays a key role in decarbonisation of the grid. Although wind energy is seen as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, there are still several environmental impacts associated with all stages of the lifecycle of a wind farm. This study determined the material composition for wind turbines for various sizes and designs and the prevalence of such turbines over time, to accurately quantify waste generation following wind turbine decommissioning in the UK. The end of life stage is becoming increasingly important as a rapid rise in installation rates suggests an equally rapid rise in decommissioning rates can be expected as wind turbines reach the end of their 20–25-year operational lifetime. Waste data analytics were applied in this study for the UK in 5-year intervals, stemming from 2000 to 2039. Current practices for end of life waste management procedures have been analysed to create baseline scenarios. These scenarios have been used to explore potential waste management mitigation options for various materials and components such as reuse, remanufacture, recycling, and heat recovery from incineration. Six scenarios were then developed based on these waste management options, which have demonstrated the significant environmental benefits of such practices through quantification of waste reduction and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings. For the 2015–2019 time period, over 35 kilotonnes of waste are expected to be generated annually. Overall waste is expected to increase over time to more than 1200 kilotonnes annually by 2039. Concrete is expected to account for the majority of waste associated with wind turbine decommissioning initially due to foundations for onshore turbines accounting for approximately 80% of their total weight. By 2035–2039, steel waste is expected to account for almost 50% of overall waste due to the emergence of offshore turbines, the foundations of which are predominantly made of steel.

Author(s):  
David Horsley ◽  
Bruce McKirdy

Nirex is the organisation responsible for long-term radioactive waste management in the UK. Our Mission is to provide the UK with safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable options for the long-term management of radioactive materials. The United Kingdom has a significant legacy of long-lived intermediate level radioactive waste. This has arisen from 50 years of investigation and exploitation of nuclear technology. Some of the waste is stored in old facilities that do not provide the standards of containment that would be incorporated in modern facilities. Also the risk to people and to the environment from the inventory in these facilities will increase with time as the structures age and degrade, increasing the chance of containment failure. There is, therefore, a need to retrieve this raw waste and process and package it to make it demonstrably safe for continued storage, pending a decision on disposal of radioactive waste. This packaging should, as far as is practicable, be compatible with the UK long-term waste management strategy. Nirex has developed its Phased Disposal Concept for intermediate and low-level radioactive waste. Based on that concept, Nirex has developed waste package specifications and carries out assessments of waste packaging proposals. For legacy wastes it may not always practicable to demonstrate full compliance with all Nirex disposal criteria. This paper describes an approach, agreed between Nirex and BNFL, for managing these wastes. The proposed approach takes account of long-term waste management issues whilst recognising the need for timely improvement of storage conditions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
William K. Townend ◽  
Christopher Cheeseman ◽  
Jen Edgar ◽  
Terry Tudor

Since the creation of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom in 1948 there have been significant changes in the way waste materials produced by healthcare facilities have been managed due to a number of environmental, legal and social drivers. This paper reviews the key changes in legislation and healthcare waste management that have occurred in the UK between 1948 and the present time. It investigates reasons for the changes and how the problems associated with healthcare wastes have been addressed. The reaction of the public to offensive disposal practices taking place locally required political action by the UK government and subsequently by the European legislature. The relatively new UK industry of hazardous healthcare waste management has developed rapidly over the past 25 years in response to significant changes in healthcare practices. The growth in knowledge and appreciation of environmental issues has also been fundamental to the development of this industry. Legislation emanating from Europe is now responsible for driving change to UK healthcare waste management. This paper examines the drivers that have caused the healthcare waste management to move forward in the 60 years since the NHS was formed. It demonstrates that the situation has moved from a position where there was no overall strategy to the current situation where there is a strong regulatory framework but still no national strategy. The reasons for this situation are examined and based upon the experience gained; suggestions are made for the benefit of countries with systems for healthcare waste management still in the early stages of development or without any provisions at all.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex de Lacey

Grime music emerged at the turn of the millennium in the United Kingdom. While grounded and street-level at its outset, the form has since become global in reach. This article focuses on performance practice in the East Australian grime scene and its development over time. Principally, it attends to how MCs and DJs articulate a sense of belonging to both the UK and their local communities in Melbourne and Sydney, through lyrical and musical signification. These articulations are shown to be an example of ‘glocal’ performance practice, which is locally situated yet globally rendering. The article also demonstrates how these artists’ conceptions of legitimate practice are heavily mediated by YouTube videos of canonical UK practice, owing to their geographical dislocation from the genre’s initial point of origin. As a result, radio performances ‐ known as ‘sets’ ‐ and live shows are often prioritized over recorded releases. These findings are supported by interviews with Australian artists, and musical analysis of two key performances: a radio set on Australian broadcaster Triple J from November 2018 and a global grime showcase on London’s Rinse FM from January 2019.


2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Bevan ◽  
Peter John ◽  
Will Jennings

In the United Kingdom, the transmission between policy promises and statutes is assumed to be both rapid and efficient because of the tradition of party discipline, relative stability of government, absence of coalitions, and the limited powers of legislative revision in the second chamber. Even in the United Kingdom, the transmission is not perfect since legislative priorities and outputs are susceptible to changes in public opinion or media coverage, unanticipated events in the external world, backbench rebellions, changes in the political parties, and the practical constraints of administering policies or programmes. This paper investigates the strength of the connection between executive priorities and legislative outputs measured by the Speech from the Throne and Acts of Parliament from 1911 to 2008. These are categorized according to the policy content coding system of the UK Policy Agendas Project (www.policyagendas.org.uk). Time series cross-sectional analyses show that there is transmission of the policy agenda from the speech to acts. However, the relationship differs by party, strengthening over time for Conservative governments and declining over time for Labour and other governments.


2012 ◽  
Vol 76 (8) ◽  
pp. 2873-2879 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Tweed

AbstractThe safe implementation of geological disposal must be underpinned by sound science. This paper describes the approaches taken by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Radioactive Waste Management Directorate, the implementing body for geological disposal in the UK, to build an evidence base of scientific data and understanding which is robust to scrutiny and so provides confidence in the safety of geological disposal.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-181
Author(s):  
Alexander A Caviedes

This article explores the link between migrants and crime as portrayed in the European press. Examining conservative newspapers from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2016, the study situates the press coverage in each individual country within a comparative perspective that contrasts the frequency of the crime narrative to that of other prominent narratives, as well as to that in the other countries. The article also charts the prevalence of this narrative over time, followed by a discussion of which particular aspects of crime are most commonly referenced in each country. The findings suggest that while there has been no steady increase in the coverage of crime and migration, the press securitizes migration by focusing on crime through a shared emphasis on human trafficking and the non-European background of the perpetrators. However, other frames advanced in these newspapers, such as fraud or organized crime, comprise nationally distinctive characteristics.


Until 2019, TBE was considered only to be an imported disease to the United Kingdom. In that year, evidence became available that the TBEV is likely circulating in the country1,2 and a first “probable case” of TBE originating in the UK was reported.3 In addition to TBEV, louping ill virus (LIV), a member of the TBEV-serocomplex, is also endemic in parts of the UK. Reports of clinical disease caused by LIV in livestock are mainly from Scotland, parts of North and South West England and Wales.4


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Nooriha Abdullah ◽  
Darinka Asenova ◽  
Stephen J. Bailey

The aim of this paper is to analyse the risk transfer issue in Public Private Partnership/Private Finance Initiative (PPP/PFI) procurement documents in the United Kingdom (UK) and Malaysia. It utilises qualitative research methods using documentation and interviews for data collection. The UK documents (guidelines and contracts) identify the risks related to this form of public procurement of services and makeexplicittheappropriateallocation of those risks between the public and the private sector PPP/PFI partners and so the types of risks each party should bear. However, in Malaysia, such allocation of risks was not mentioned in PPP/PFI guidelines. Hence, a question arises regarding whether risk transfer exists in Malaysian PPP/PFI projects, whether in contracts or by other means. This research question is the rationale for the comparative analysis ofdocumentsand practicesrelatingtorisk transfer in the PPP/PFI procurements in both countries. The results clarify risk-related issues that arise in implementing PPP/PFI procurement in Malaysia, in particular how risk is conceptualised, recognised and allocated (whether explicitly or implicitly), whether or not that allocation is intended to achieve optimum risk transfer, and so the implications forachievement ofvalue for moneyor other such objectivesinPPP/PFI.


2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

The Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre for England and Wales and others have reported that the number of people living with HIV in the UK has increased


1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 709-715
Author(s):  
M. J. Rouse

This paper covers the approach taken by WRc to the practical application of research results. WRc works on an annual programme of research paid for collectively by the UK water utilities totalling ₤15m. In addition contract research is carried out for government largely on environmental matters and for utilities and others on a confidential basis. The approach to the implementation described here deals with the application of results across the whole of the United Kingdom where there are a large number of users of the results but with varying degrees of interest in any particular topic. The requirement is to inform all of the outcome of the work and then to provide the facility of rapid implementation for those who have an immediate requirement to apply the new knowledge and technology.


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