Applying UKAEA’s Data Management and Geographical Information System to the Development of a Safety Case for Contaminated Land

This paper discusses the application of the UKAEA’s information management and geographical evaluation system (IMAGES) to the development of a safety case for contaminated land on the Dounreay nuclear licensed site. IMAGES is the subject of a separate paper in these conference proceedings: “A Data Management and Geographical Information System (GIS) for the Management of Land Quality on UKAEA Sites” [1]. Nuclear safety on licensed sites in the UK is enforced through the Health and Safety Executive’s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). Nuclear site licenses contain a number of conditions and it is against the enforcement of these conditions that the NII regulates nuclear safety. Recent guidance issued by the NII to it’s inspectors and it’s licensees covers managing radioactively contaminated land. The NII treats radioactively contaminated land as an accumulation of radioactive waste. It therefore requires licensees to control or contain the material, to record the amount and location of the material and to justify and demonstrate the adequacy of the arrangements to maintain safety by means of a safety case. The IMAGES system has played a key role in developing the safety case for contaminated land and in the on-going management of contaminated land at Dounreay. This paper explains how IMAGES has been used to support Dounreay’s contaminated land safety case by: • recording areas of contaminated land, its activity and its volume; • supporting the conceptual model via 2D and 3D visualisation; • calculating an estimate of the overall inventory of contaminated land at Dounreay (concentrations and volume), and providing output to a risk assessment; • providing project managers with data, which is pertinent to health and safety, for excavations in areas of contaminated land. In addition, providing estimates of waste arisings as a consequence of the proposed excavations; • assisting in controlling activities in areas of contamination (via excavation procedures); • providing a tracking system for wastes excavated from areas of contamination; and • providing the definitive, up to date records with respect to the assessment of land quality status.