Parsons Brinckerhoff and G&T part of team for “geological” storage facility

Consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff and Gardiner & Theobald have won a four-year contract with the nuclear Decommissioning Agency to help develop plans for a long-term “geological” storage facility for nuclear waste.

The contract to provide technical support for the planned multi-billion pound facility has been awarded to the Orchid Group, consisting of Nuvia, Gardiner & Theobald, National Nuclear Laboratory, SKB International, University of Manchester, Oxford Technologies, Nuclear Technologies, the British Geological Survey and Balfour Beatty subsidiary Parson Brinckerhoff.

The Geological Disposal Facility will be designed to keep radioactive materials isolated from the environment for thousands of years at a UK location that has yet to be chosen. Engineers on the project will have to create, for the first time, a facility to last for millennia.

David Rutherford, senior director, energy at Parsons Brinckerhoff, said:  “The development of an underground disposal facility for radioactive materials is a vital legacy for future generations.”

The government is leading the site selection process under the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely framework.