Waste asbestos from abatement activities within UK decommissioning nuclear sites has traditionally been disposed to licensed landfill or, in the case of radiologically contaminated wastes, the national Low-Level Waste (LLW) repository at Drigg. However, the combination of a number of factors required alternative disposal methods to be investigated for future abatement programs. These include: ? Legislative events which have increased landfill costs and could lead to the banning of asbestos landfill ? Finite capacity within the LLW repository ? Decreasing social desirability and acceptability of landfill which does nothing to reduce the toxicity associated with asbestos wastes A Value Engineering (VE) study was conducted to identify potential alternative asbestos treatment and disposal methods. Of these alternatives, Thermochemical Conversion Technology (TCCT) appeared particularly attractive because the process converted hazardous asbestos into a harmless substance suitable for construction applications. Furthermore, the process offered significant volume reduction, could be used to treat radiologically contaminated asbestos, could potentially be used to treat other wastes and compared favorably on costs. The TCCT process has been developed, demonstrated and permitted in the USA and has been subjected to independent verification by the US Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The VE study has investigated the applicability of TCCT within the UK against technical, regulatory, environmental and cost criteria and has concluded that this process appears to offer a number of advantages over the alternatives. Detailed engineering studies will be required to produce plant specifications and target costs to support this conclusion.
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