International Nuclear Services (INS) is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

company involved in the management and transport of

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel refers to any substance, typically fissile material, which is used by nuclear power stations or other atomic nucleus, nuclear devices to generate energy. Oxide fuel For fission reactors, the fuel (typically based on uranium) is ...

s. INS is based near Whitehaven, in Cumbria and is operated by Nuclear Transport Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of the

UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

History

INS began as the Spent Fuel Services division of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). As part of the restructuring of BNFL, 49% of the business was transferred to the NDA in 2006. It was renamed International Nuclear Services in 2007 and in April 2008, as BNFL was wound up, the NDA acquired the remaining 51% of INS.

Operations

INS offers management, consultancy and transport services covering

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

MOX fuel Mixed oxide fuel (MOX fuel) is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enr ...

, irradiated fuel and

nuclear waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. It is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear ...

. It also acts as the NDA's commercial arm, managing contracts for services provided from the NDA's

Sellafield Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste storage, nuclear waste processing and storage and nucle ...

and

Dounreay Dounreay (; ) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness Caithness (; ; ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutena ...

sites. As part of this role it works alongside the NDA's

Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain, and is one of the publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom. DRS was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) during late 19 ...

subsidiary, which transports nuclear materials in the UK by rail.

Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited

INS conducts most of its transport operations through specialist nuclear materials shipping company Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL), in which it has a controlling 62.5% stake. PNTL's remaining shares are owned by

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

(12.5%) and a consortium of Japanese nuclear companies (25%). PNTL's fleet is dedicated to carrying nuclear materials and transports most of its cargoes between

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The fleet of three ships is managed by

Serco Serco Group plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational military, defence, Healthcare, health, Space industry, space, private prison, justice, Human migration, migration, customer service, customer services, and transport company ...

, which also operates two ships for INS. The vessels are armed for self-defence, and carry a contingent of the

Civil Nuclear Constabulary The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Heddlu Sifil Niwclear'') is a Special police#United Kingdom, special police force responsible for providing law enforcement agency, law enforcement and security at any relevant nuclea ...

on board to operate the armament.

References

External links

Nuclear Transport Solutions

Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited
{{authority control Nuclear technology in the United Kingdom Nuclear fuel companies Nuclear waste companies Government-owned companies of the United Kingdom 2006 establishments in England Waste companies established in 2006 British companies established in 2006