Written Question · S2W-16109 · Session 2
What involvement it will have in the review of low-level radioactive waste management policy recently announced by the Secretary of State f…
The question
To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement it will have in the review of low-level radioactive waste management policy recently announced by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and what the review involves.
The answer
The review of policy for the long-term management of the UK's low-level radioactive waste (LLW) has been agreed by the Scottish ministers and ministers of the UK government and the other devolved administrations.
LLW is generated by a wide range of activities involving the use of radioactive substances. They include the operation of nuclear reactors, the operation of other nuclear processing facilities, the decommissioning and clean up of nuclear sites, non-nuclear industrial activities, the medical use of radioactive materials, and research and educational activities.
While relatively low, the level of radioactivity in LLW can span a very wide range (about five orders of magnitude). Not least because of this, it has been managed in a number of ways in the past: using the national disposal facility at Drigg in Cumbria, using various forms of disposal on the nuclear site on which the waste was generated, using controlled burial to landfill and, for small quantities of very low-level waste, through disposal with other ordinary refuse.
With many nuclear sites and facilities moving into their decommissioning phase, and with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) being set up to deal with this, it has been increasingly recognised that there will be a very large volume of LLW to be dealt with.
The proposed policy review will consider how best to use those forms of long term management that already exist and in particular:
the best use of the Drigg facility;
the merits of transporting LLW from its source of origin, and
the relative advantages of on site disposal as opposed to controlled burial to landfill offsite.
The aim is to identify a policy framework, which will update that set out in the 1995 White Paper Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy: Final Conclusions (Cm2919) to cover the future management of LLW, notably by the NDA. It will set out the broad requirements and principles within which future management decisions will be made. The initial stages are being overseen by a Steering Group drawn from the Government's Radioactive Waste Policy Group (RWPG). RWPG, on which the Executive is represented, is made up of UK Government, devolved administrations and regulatory body representatives and meets regularly, several times a year, to discuss radioactive waste management policy and regulatory issues.
The steering group consists of representatives of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Scottish Executive, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Environment Agency (EA), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the NDA. It is jointly chaired by Defra and the NDA and meetings are also attended by representatives of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), British Energy (BEn) and GE Healthcare and UK Nirex to assist with the preparation of data on the types and volumes of waste to be dealt with, University College London (UCL) who have been appointed as the independent facilitators for two stakeholder workshops to be held during the course of 2005 and Atkins who are providing more general technical support to the work. The Steering Group’s remit is to provide draft consultation material for RWPG to consider by October/November 2005 so that revised policy proposals can be issued around the turn of the year.
The LLW review will be carried out in parallel with the work of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which is assessing options for the long-term management of the UK's higher activity wastes. However, the LLW review is about how best to apply existing options for long-term management, unlike CoRWM’s work which is seeking to identify options for long-term management of the higher activity wastes. RWPG will ensure that those managing the LLW review take account o
LLW is generated by a wide range of activities involving the use of radioactive substances. They include the operation of nuclear reactors, the operation of other nuclear processing facilities, the decommissioning and clean up of nuclear sites, non-nuclear industrial activities, the medical use of radioactive materials, and research and educational activities.
While relatively low, the level of radioactivity in LLW can span a very wide range (about five orders of magnitude). Not least because of this, it has been managed in a number of ways in the past: using the national disposal facility at Drigg in Cumbria, using various forms of disposal on the nuclear site on which the waste was generated, using controlled burial to landfill and, for small quantities of very low-level waste, through disposal with other ordinary refuse.
With many nuclear sites and facilities moving into their decommissioning phase, and with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) being set up to deal with this, it has been increasingly recognised that there will be a very large volume of LLW to be dealt with.
The proposed policy review will consider how best to use those forms of long term management that already exist and in particular:
the best use of the Drigg facility;
the merits of transporting LLW from its source of origin, and
the relative advantages of on site disposal as opposed to controlled burial to landfill offsite.
The aim is to identify a policy framework, which will update that set out in the 1995 White Paper Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy: Final Conclusions (Cm2919) to cover the future management of LLW, notably by the NDA. It will set out the broad requirements and principles within which future management decisions will be made. The initial stages are being overseen by a Steering Group drawn from the Government's Radioactive Waste Policy Group (RWPG). RWPG, on which the Executive is represented, is made up of UK Government, devolved administrations and regulatory body representatives and meets regularly, several times a year, to discuss radioactive waste management policy and regulatory issues.
The steering group consists of representatives of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI), the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Scottish Executive, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Environment Agency (EA), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the NDA. It is jointly chaired by Defra and the NDA and meetings are also attended by representatives of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), British Energy (BEn) and GE Healthcare and UK Nirex to assist with the preparation of data on the types and volumes of waste to be dealt with, University College London (UCL) who have been appointed as the independent facilitators for two stakeholder workshops to be held during the course of 2005 and Atkins who are providing more general technical support to the work. The Steering Group’s remit is to provide draft consultation material for RWPG to consider by October/November 2005 so that revised policy proposals can be issued around the turn of the year.
The LLW review will be carried out in parallel with the work of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which is assessing options for the long-term management of the UK's higher activity wastes. However, the LLW review is about how best to apply existing options for long-term management, unlike CoRWM’s work which is seeking to identify options for long-term management of the higher activity wastes. RWPG will ensure that those managing the LLW review take account o
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-16109 by reference.