Completion of UK’s high-level waste return programme to Germany

Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) has delivered the third and final return of high-level waste (HLW), in the form of vitrified residue, to Germany.

This marks the completion of an international commitment between the UK and Germany, and a significant milestone in the UK’s nuclear clean-up mission.

This shipment represents the culmination of decades of UK expertise, investment and commitment to safely return high-level waste to its country of origin. It reflects sustained collaboration between NTS, Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), and demonstrates the UK’s role as a trusted and responsible international partner.

The final shipment saw seven flasks transported from Sellafield to Barrow via rail, as part of an integrated logistics, operation and then loaded onto PNTL vessel Pacific Grebe for the sea journey to Germany.

Three dedicated rail movements transported the material to the port on specially engineered wagons. Each flask, weighing more than 100 tonnes, was then precisely lifted and loaded onto the vessel using the port’s specialist heavy-lift crane.

The operation draws on fully integrated NTS and wider NDA group capabilities, combining rail, maritime, security, engineering and regulatory expertise to deliver the complex mission. It also required extensive intergovernmental coordination to maintain alignment across parties in the UK and Germany and significant efforts to secure all the relevant federal and national approvals.

The waste being returned is a legacy of Sellafield’s overseas fuel reprocessing programme, which came to an end in 2018. In line with UK Government policy and long-standing contractual commitments, the resulting waste is returned to its country of origin through the Vitrified Residue Returns (VRR) programme.