HL Deb 07 February 1978 vol 388 cc1028-9WA
Lord DOUGLAS of BARLOCH

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will state in relation to the advanced gas-cooled reactor:—

  1. (1) the estimated working life of the plant;
  2. (2) the quantity of radioactive waste which it will produce each year classified according to the half-life of each kind;
  3. (3) the total of such waste products, so classified, which will be in existence when the plant is closed down; and

(4) the amount of such waste products which will remain in the plant itself when it is closed down.

Lord STRABOLGI

The following information has been provided by the Central Electricity Generating Board in consultation with the South of Scotland Electricity Board.

For the purposes of plant design and the estimation of radioactive waste arisings, the Generating Boards assume the working life of the plant to be 30 years.

Gaseous, liquid and solid radioactive wastes will be produced, all but the latter being discharged safely into the environment under authorisations from the relevant Government Departments. The solid wastes are identified in the table below.

The values used are approximate estimates and only Type 1 waste is accumulated on site over the life of the station. (The volume given for Type 1 waste is for the current Hinkley 'B' design, the volume for earlier AGR's would be higher by a factor of two). It is proposed to dispose of wastes Type 2, 3 and 4 during the operational life of the station, Types 2 and 3 by established shallow land burial and Type 4 by sea dumping. Waste Type 5 is incinerated and is included into Type 3 waste. When the plant is closed down it is anticipated that residual wastes of Types 2, 3 and 4 will be disposed of as

A B C D
Waste Type Main activity components and half-life Volume of Waste from 1 year's operation (m3) Activity A in B(Ci)* Activity of A in store at 30 years (Ci)*
1. Irradiated fuel stringer and reactor components Cobalt 60 (5 years) 20 4 × 105 3 × 106
2. Miscellaneous combustible but unsuitable for incineration (PVC, plastics, filters etc.) Cobalt 60 (5 years) 80 very low (less than 10) —
3. Miscellaneous incombustible (desiccant, incinerated ash, dusts, metals, etc.) Cobalt 60 (5 years) 70 low (less than 100) —
4. Wet solid wastes (ion exchange resins, sludges, etc.) Cobalt 60 (5 years) Chromium 51 (28 days) 5 600 (Cobalt 60) 6000 (Chromium 51) —
5. Combustible—suitable for incineration Cobalt 60 (5 years) — — —
TOTAL 175 m3
*Ci stands for Curie, the unit of measurement of radiation.