9df8df51-63a3-37a8-e044-0003ba9b0d98 English dataset British Geological Survey +44 115 936 3100 Environmental Science Centre, Keyworth NOTTINGHAM NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG12 5GG United Kingdom enquiries@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2026-04-16 UK GEMINI 2.3 http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13480335 OSGB 1936 / British National Grid (EPSG::27700) Nirex rock cores and core samples from deep boreholes 1989 creation http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13480335 During the period from 1989 to 1997, Nirex undertook extensive geological investigations at sites near Sellafield, in Cumbria, and Dounreay, in Caithness, to examine whether or not they were suitable locations for a deep repository for radioactive waste. At Sellafield, thirty deep boreholes, and a further thirty-five shallow boreholes, were drilled. The majority of the deep boreholes were drilled to obtain continuous core and some 18.7km of rock core arose from the investigations. Two deep boreholes were drilled at Dounreay, totalling 2,286 metres of drilling. Again, much of the drilling was to obtain continuous core. In most of the boreholes a suite of data acquisition techniques were used, including: continuous coring, geophysical wireline logging, hydraulic testing, sampling and analysis of groundwaters. Mineralogical data were acquired by detailed core observation, petrographic analysis, fluid inclusion analysis and stable and radiogenic isotope studies. Testing on samples from the rock cores was undertaken to determine petrological, mineralogical, hydrogeological, geophysical and geotechnical parameters. The ownership of NIREX (Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive) was transferred from the nuclear industry to the UK Government departments DEFRA and DTI in April 2005, and then to the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in November 2006. Paul Degnan Nirex Corporate Communications, Currie Avenue, Harwell DIDCOT OXFORDSHIRE OX11 ORH United Kingdom not available pointOfContact Enquiries British Geological Survey 0115 936 3143 0115 936 3276 Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth NOTTINGHAM NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG12 5GG United Kingdom enquiries@bgs.ac.uk distributor Enquiries British Geological Survey 0115 936 3143 0115 936 3276 Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth NOTTINGHAM NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG12 5GG United Kingdom enquiries@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact Enquiries British Geological Survey 0115 936 3143 0115 936 3276 Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth NOTTINGHAM NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG12 5GG United Kingdom enquiries@bgs.ac.uk custodian notPlanned https://resources.bgs.ac.uk/images/geonetworkThumbs/9df8df51-63a3-37a8-e044-0003ba9b0d98.png Geology GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Core samples Boreholes Deep drilling Drill core BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences 2022 revision data.gov.uk (non-INSPIRE) dataCentre NERC_DDC otherRestrictions NIREX granted the British Geological Survey a licence to use and to allow third parties to use the data for bona fide academic or educational purposes. Commercial organisations wishing to use the data should, in the first place, apply to The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) for access to the archives, this can be done through BGS, contact Richard Shaw. A fee may be payable to the British Geological Survey for access to the data. otherRestrictions The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused. Either: (i) the dataset is made freely available, e.g. via the Internet, for a restricted category of use (e.g. educational use only); or (ii) the dataset has not been formally approved by BGS for access and use by external clients under licence, but its use may be permitted under alternative formal arrangements; or (iii) the dataset contains 3rd party data or information obtained by BGS under terms and conditions that must be consulted in order to determine the permitted usage of the dataset. Refer to the BGS staff member responsible for the creation of the dataset if further advice is required. He / she should be familiar with the composition of the dataset, particularly with regard to 3rd party IPR contained in it, and any resultant use restrictions. This staff member should revert to the IPR Section (ipr@bgs.ac.uk) for advice, should the position not be clear. grid 10000 English geoscientificInformation British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation DOUNREAY [id=98586] British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation SELLAFIELD [id=98585] -3.5031 -3.4094 54.3869 54.4383 -3.7541 -3.7371 58.5749 58.5796 1989 1997 Nearly all of cores and samples from the Nirex deep boreholes are held by the BGS. All cores were re-packaged from their original core boxes into cardboard boxes for transfer to BGS. All original drillers depth identifers, core run numbers etc have been maintained. SAMPLES - core samples witheld CORE MATERIAL witheld Enquiries British Geological Survey 0115 936 3143 0115 936 3276 Environmental Science Centre, Nicker Hill, Keyworth NOTTINGHAM NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG12 5GG United Kingdom enquiries@bgs.ac.uk distributor https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geological-data/national-geological-repository/nirex-geological-archive/ WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link Nirex geological archive This page provides details of the Nirex geological archive that was transferred from Nirex to the British Geological Survey (BGS) during 2000/2001. information dataset dataset INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology 2011 publication See the referenced specification false Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF false The cores were obtained by Nirex during their investigations at Sellafield and Dounreay. All borehole, core handling and subsequent testing and analysis were carried out to BS 5750 pt 1 and BS EN ISO 9001.