Nuclear technology has been a part of our lives for over 60 years and is used in power generation, industry, medicine and defence. These activities have created radioactive waste which we need to manage safely. With a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) the waste will be put hundreds of metres deep underground in a specially engineered facility. Geological disposal is internationally recognised as the safest long-term solution; having a GDF in the UK will create jobs and guaranteed investment for the host community and is one of the UK’s largest ever environmental protection projects. The process of finding a site for a GDF is consent-based; communities will work in partnership with the implementer (Radioactive Waste Management Ltd), so that people will have the opportunity to create a future that works for them.
Speaker
Steve Reece, Radioactive Waste Management Ltd.
Steve Reece is a Chartered Mining Engineer and Fellow of IMMM. He is currently the Acting Siting and Engagement Director for Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. Over the last 25 years he has specialised in the field of using underground void space for storage and disposal.
After graduating from Cardiff University, Steve worked in the South Wales coalfield where he held a number of supervisory and management positions including those of Colliery Manager at Trelewis Drift and Deep Navigation. He moved to the Durham coalfield in the early 90’s and was Manager at Easington Colliery. After a short period in a logistics role he returned to mining and moved to Winsford Rocksalt Mine in Cheshire where he was Mine Manger and Chief Mining Engineer for nearly 15 years. During that time he was instrumental in developing new business to use the high quality void space created by the large scale room and pillar mining method. These included a successful document archive storage business and the UK’s first underground hazardous waste repository.
Over the last 10 years Steve has focused his career on the strategic use of underground space working on the UK’s Geological Disposal Programme for Higher Activity Radioactive Waste and also spending time in Australia working on feasibility studies for geological disposal facilities for hazardous wastes.
