Urenco draft licence for storage facility for radioactive waste
The ANVS intends to give Urenco a licence for a new storage facility for radioactive waste. Everyone has until 12 April 2024 to respond to the draft licence.
Plus an application for changes to the layout
In its licence application, Urenco also asked to have the layout of its company premises adapted in line with the new situation. At the same time, Urenco would like two technological changes to be implemented, including the tube voltage of Urenco’s X-ray machines. More on this is available in the notification in the Government Gazette (in Dutch) or in Urenco’s application (in Dutch). The draft licence is on our website (in Dutch).
Urenco enriches uranium as fuel for nuclear power plants
Urenco is a company based in Almelo that produces enriched uranium, which is then used to generate electricity in nuclear power plants.
Formal end to tolerance
Last year, we gave Urenco permission to build and commission a new storage facility based on a temporary exemption order. We did so because the place where the radioactive waste was being stored was not sufficiently fire resistant. We allowed the construction of the new storage facility so that Urenco could meet all the safety requirements as quickly as possible.
Urenco was not able to apply for a licence for the storage facility from us because there were already proceedings pending for the renewal and amendment of the current licence. We granted this so-called revised licence on 7 July 2023. The paperwork for the latest changes will be settled once we have issued a final licence for the new storage facility. That will formally end the exemption situation.
Waste not going to COVRA now
Urenco indicated earlier that its radioactive waste cannot currently be taken to COVRA’s national storage site for radioactive waste due to its high levels of enrichment. Urenco first has to process the material.
Read and respond until 12 April 2024
The draft decision on the amendments to the licence is open for inspection until 12 April 2024. If, after reading it, you have any questions or observations about the draft decision, you can respond by way of an objection.
There are three ways to respond:
- By email: send your email to postbus.kerninstallatie@anvs.nl and put ‘Objection to draft licence for Urenco storage facility’ in the subject line of your email.
- In writing: send a letter to the ANVS, Objection to draft licence for Urenco storage facility, P.O. Box 16001, 2500 BA, The Hague.
- By telephone: call the Information Desk for Nuclear Energy Act licences at +31 88 489 05 00, available from Monday to Friday between 8.30 and 17.00.
We will respond to your objection once we take a final decision on Urenco’s licence application. We will include your objection and our response to it in our final licence. This decision will then also be published on our website. We expect this will be done in May 2024.