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As nuclear decommissioning gains momentum,
a necessary shift in the landscape of nuclear
support laboratories is occurring.
The emphasis of analysis is shifting from the monitoring
of surrounding environment to ensure containment to
focus more on the consignment of waste under the “reduce, re-use and recycle” ethos. |
With this shift in emphasis, comes changing analytical
requirements. Sample matrices are becoming more
complex as rubble, containers, carpets and soils are
now being tested for fingerprint information. Exotic
elements, oils analysis, and chemical analysis are now
being called for on a regular basis.
Turnaround times are also becoming commercially
important to the end users who rely on the data to make
time sensitive decisions on streaming of waste.
Contractors, for instance, need speed of analysis,
efficiency of scheduling and simplicity of reporting to
bolster their productivity.
Once the decision has been made on the consignment
of the waste, there are also further legislative
considerations such as Waste Acceptance Criteria
which are a consideration for commercial landfills under
the Landfill Directive.
As these changing requirements are taken into account,
along with the increased levels of activity, an interesting
problem springs to mind concerning the amount of
analytical expertise available in the UK market. |
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