Collection, Transport, and Processing of High Activity Sealed Radioactive Sources for Disposal

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), on behalf of the Home Office and Department of Energy Security & Net-Zero, seeks a supplier or consortium to manage the collection, transport, storage, and processing of Caesium-137 High Activity Sealed Sources (HASS) from medical and research facilities across the UK. This is part of a government programme to reduce radiological security risks by replacing and safely disposing of these sources. Scope includes handling 6 irradiator units (with an option for 3 additional units) containing 12 Cs-137 sources (potentially 18 total). The supplier must obtain all necessary permits and licenses, dismantle and transport the units to their premises in the UK or abroad, store sources for up to 36 months, process the units to extract the sources, and package them into 1648C transport containers for return to the Sellafield waste facility. The work is divided into two phases: Phase 1 covers collection through packaging into transport containers, with an optional break clause; Phase 2 covers final transport to Sellafield. Suppliers must have or develop capability to handle the 1648C transport package once licensed. All participants must satisfy national security requirements.