Taking the UK’s National LLW Progamme From Strategy Development to Implementation

Author(s):  
David Rossiter ◽  
Rachel O’Donnell

In 2008 UK Nuclear Waste Management Ltd (UKNWM) became the Parent Body Organisation (PBO) at the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) in the UK. LLWR is the primary disposal facility for the UK’s LLW, supporting a wide range of industries across the nuclear power generation, reprocessing, defence, healthcare, education, and oil and gas sectors. One of the key tasks following the appointment of the new PBO was to work with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to develop a national strategy for LLW generated in the UK, predominantly in the NDA estate. The new National Strategy for LLW was required to address the gap between the forecast waste arisings and predicted capacity at LLWR. The National Strategy for LLW Management was published in August 2010 following an 18 month development period. The main focus of the strategy is on three areas: • Application of the waste management hierarchy to extend the life of LLWR and ensure waste is managed in a risk-based, fit-for-purpose manner; • Making best use of existing assets such as transport, packaging, treatment and disposal facilities; • Opening up new fit-for-purpose waste management routes to divert waste away from LLWR. Developing a robust strategy is vital to provide strategic direction to Government, waste producers, regulators, and stakeholders. Once the strategy is developed and approved, the key challenge is then to implement the strategy on a national scale in an efficient and cost-effective manner that delivers maximum value for money to the UK taxpayer. As well as developing the strategy, LLWR has been actively working to develop the enablers to implement the strategy. Since the publication of the strategy in August 2010 LLWR has been re-organised to reflect the shift in focus, from strategy development to implementation and delivery of the strategy. New resources have been brought in with international waste management experience to help integrate delivery with waste producers. This paper covers the changes in focus required from developing the strategy to how this is implemented. This includes the development of metal recycling, incineration, VLLW disposal, characterisation, packaging transport services. These services have been developed to allow the key aims in the strategy to be achieved, and the cultural changes that both LLWR and the customers have had to adapt to, as well as future developments in waste services.

Author(s):  
A. Harper ◽  
J. Harrison ◽  
D. N. Swan

Decisions on the strategies to follow in dealing with these operational and decommissioning wastes require consideration of a wide range of issues including environmental impact, safety, stakeholder acceptability, cost and practicability. In this paper, we focus on an approach that we have developed to analyse the time-varying resource requirements of different waste management options in terms of cost and plant capacity. The approach addresses the need for: • a standardised approach that can be used across different organisations; • a range of standard graphical outputs that can be used to communicate the key issues; • the need to match waste management strategy with the potential availability of relevant plant and facilities; • the need to evaluate the risks that arise to any strategy as the result of changes in policy or the failure of some component of the strategy. Many of the required issues can be addressed using a simple spreadsheet approach. However, this does not provide for standardisation, auditability or transparency and does not provide a wide range of analysis and presentation tools. We therefore advocate the use of a specifically designed decision support tool. ALPS (Advanced Liabilities Planning System) has been developed over a number of years to meet these requirements. It has been developed around the database package ACCESSTM and runs on Pentium TM PCs but has the essential features of project management packages that are necessary for strategic planning. The principal outputs of the system are cost, timing and utilisation data for waste stores, processing facilities, transport and disposal operations. The outputs can be displayed at any level of aggregation to allow the effects of different scenarios to be evaluated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Y.M. Iskanderov ◽  

Aim. The use of intelligent agents in modeling an integrated information system of transport logistics makes it possible to achieve a qualitatively new level of design of control systems in supply chains. Materials and methods. The article presents an original approach that implements the possibilities of using multi-agent technologies in the interests of modeling the processes of functioning of an integrated information system of transport logistics. It is shown that the multi-agent infrastructure is actually a semantic shell of the information system, refl ecting the rules of doing business and the interaction of its participants in the supply chains. The characteristic of the model of the class of an intelligent agent, which is basic for solving problems of management of transport and technological processes, is given. Results. The procedures of functioning of the model of integration of information resources of the participants of the transport services market on the basis of intelligent agents are considered. The presented procedures provide a wide range of network interaction operations in supply chains, including traffi c and network structure “fl exible” control, mutual exchange of content and service information, as well as their distributed processing, and information security. Conclusions. The proposed approach showed that the use of intelligent agents in modeling the functioning of an integrated information system makes it possible to take into account the peculiarities of transport and technological processes in supply chains, such as the integration of heterogeneous enterprises, their distributed organization, an open dynamic structure, standardization of products, interfaces and protocols.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-93
Author(s):  
D. V. Slivinsky ◽  
I. A. Fomina ◽  
D. G. Menshikh

The presented study determines the role of business aviation in the modern economy and examines the specific features of its development in Russia.Aim. The study aims to analyze the development of business aviation in Russia and its correlation with economic development in general.Tasks. The authors determine the benefits of business aviation as a business tool, examine the specific features of the Russian business aviation market and problems of its development, and identify factors that affect the development of business aviation in Russia.Methods. This study uses the methods of comparative and retrospective analysis, cross-country comparison, systems approach, and expert analytics.Results. Business aviation is a new segment of civil aviation for Russia. Therefore, it is advisable to rely on foreign practices in the management of its development. In many countries, business aviation is a separate industry that specializes in providing transport services to a wide range of corporate clients and/or individuals. The development of this industry is associated with the economic growth rate and the development level of the national economy, and also depends on the national institutional specifics. This study describes the specific features of development of business aviation in Russia and problems arising in the organization and management of this type of business.Conclusions. The authors develop a system of factors affecting the development of business aviation in Russia, describe the major problems of this industry, and propose solutions. The results of this study can be used in the development (adjustment) of business aviation development strategies in Russia both at the industrial and corporate level, and in the implementation of the national policy in this field.


Author(s):  
Simeon J. Yates ◽  
Jordana Blejmar

Two workshops were part of the final steps in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned Ways of Being in a Digital Age project that is the basis for this Handbook. The ESRC project team coordinated one with the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (ESRC-DSTL) Workshop, “The automation of future roles”; and one with the US National Science Foundation (ESRC-NSF) Workshop, “Changing work, changing lives in the new technological world.” Both workshops sought to explore the key future social science research questions arising for ever greater levels of automation, use of artificial intelligence, and the augmentation of human activity. Participants represented a wide range of disciplinary, professional, government, and nonprofit expertise. This chapter summarizes the separate and then integrated results. First, it summarizes the central social and economic context, the method and project context, and some basic definitional issues. It then identifies 11 priority areas needing further research work that emerged from the intense interactions, discussions, debates, clustering analyses, and integration activities during and after the two workshops. Throughout, it summarizes how subcategories of issues within each cluster relate to central issues (e.g., from users to global to methods) and levels of impacts (from wider social to community and organizational to individual experiences and understandings). Subsections briefly describe each of these 11 areas and their cross-cutting issues and levels. Finally, it provides a detailed Appendix of all the areas, subareas, and their specific questions.


Author(s):  
Pete Dale

Numerous claims have been made by a wide range of commentators that punk is somehow “a folk music” of some kind. Doubtless there are several continuities. Indeed, both tend to encourage amateur music-making, both often have affiliations with the Left, and both emerge at least partly from a collective/anti-competitive approach to music-making. However, there are also significant tensions between punk and folk as ideas/ideals and as applied in practice. Most obviously, punk makes claims to a “year zero” creativity (despite inevitably offering re-presentation of at least some existing elements in every instance), whereas folk music is supposed to carry forward a tradition (which, thankfully, is more recognized in recent decades as a subject-to-change “living tradition” than was the case in folk’s more purist periods). Politically, meanwhile, postwar folk has tended more toward a socialist and/or Marxist orientation, both in the US and UK, whereas punk has at least rhetorically claimed to be in favor of “anarchy” (in the UK, in particular). Collective creativity and competitive tendencies also differ between the two (perceived) genre areas. Although the folk scene’s “floor singer” tradition offers a dispersal of expressive opportunity comparable in some ways to the “anyone can do it” idea that gets associated with punk, the creative expectation of the individual within the group differs between the two. Punk has some similarities to folk, then, but there are tensions, too, and these are well worth examining if one is serious about testing out the common claim, in both folk and punk, that “anyone can do it.”


Author(s):  
E. Thilliez ◽  
S. T. Maddison

AbstractNumerical simulations are a crucial tool to understand the relationship between debris discs and planetary companions. As debris disc observations are now reaching unprecedented levels of precision over a wide range of wavelengths, an appropriate level of accuracy and consistency is required in numerical simulations to confidently interpret this new generation of observations. However, simulations throughout the literature have been conducted with various initial conditions often with little or no justification. In this paper, we aim to study the dependence on the initial conditions of N-body simulations modelling the interaction between a massive and eccentric planet on an exterior debris disc. To achieve this, we first classify three broad approaches used in the literature and provide some physical context for when each category should be used. We then run a series of N-body simulations, that include radiation forces acting on small grains, with varying initial conditions across the three categories. We test the influence of the initial parent body belt width, eccentricity, and alignment with the planet on the resulting debris disc structure and compare the final peak emission location, disc width and offset of synthetic disc images produced with a radiative transfer code. We also track the evolution of the forced eccentricity of the dust grains induced by the planet, as well as resonance dust trapping. We find that an initially broad parent body belt always results in a broader debris disc than an initially narrow parent body belt. While simulations with a parent body belt with low initial eccentricity (e ~ 0) and high initial eccentricity (0 < e < 0.3) resulted in similar broad discs, we find that purely secular forced initial conditions, where the initial disc eccentricity is set to the forced value and the disc is aligned with the planet, always result in a narrower disc. We conclude that broad debris discs can be modelled by using either a dynamically cold or dynamically warm parent belt, while in contrast eccentric narrow debris rings are reproduced using a secularly forced parent body belt.


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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasina Stacey ◽  
Melanie Haith-Cooper ◽  
Nisa Almas ◽  
Charlotte Kenyon

Abstract Background Stillbirth is a global public health priority. Within the United Kingdom, perinatal mortality disproportionately impacts Black, Asian and minority ethnic women, and in particular migrant women. Although the explanation for this remains unclear, it is thought to be multidimensional. Improving perinatal mortality is reliant upon raising awareness of stillbirth and its associated risk factors, as well as improving maternity services. The aim of this study was to explore migrant women’s awareness of health messages to reduce stillbirth risk, and how key public health messages can be made more accessible. Method Two semi-structured focus groups and 13 one to one interviews were completed with a purposive sample of 30 migrant women from 18 countries and across 4 NHS Trusts. Results Participants provided an account of their general awareness of stillbirth and recollection of the advice they had been given to reduce the risk of stillbirth both before and during pregnancy. They also suggested approaches to how key messages might be more effectively communicated to migrant women. Conclusions Our study highlights the complexity of discussing stillbirth during pregnancy. The women in this study were found to receive a wide range of advice from family and friends as well as health professionals about how to keep their baby safe in pregnancy, they recommended the development of a range of resources to provide clear and consistent messages. Health professionals, in particular midwives who have developed a trusting relationship with the women will be key to ensuring that public health messages relating to stillbirth reduction are accessible to culturally and linguistically diverse communities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095042222110126
Author(s):  
Stella Xu ◽  
Zimu Xu ◽  
Fujia Li ◽  
Arun Sukumar

Entrepreneurship-related modules have become increasingly popular over the years, not only among business school students but also among those from other disciplines, including engineering and the arts and humanities. In some circumstances, they are offered as optional modules for students across different faculties and disciplines. While it is beneficial to mix students with different backgrounds, bringing in a wide range of perspectives, there are also challenges relating to course design and student engagement. With these challenges in mind, the authors trialled a new approach in the hope of motivating students from diverse academic and socio-cultural backgrounds to engage more fully in the classroom by utilising student entrepreneurs as guest speakers. The student-centric approach has proved effective in enhancing student engagement, as evidenced by both informal and formal feedback.


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