§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the total United Kingdom expenditure on research into radioactive waste management in each year since 1970 by funding organisations and by contractor.
§ Mr. Fox[pursuant to his reply, 28 February 1980, c. 735]: This expenditure is not separately identifiable from expenditure on nuclear research generally prior to 1977–78. The expenditure on research in radioactive waste management—including radioactivity in the environment—by the main funding agencies since 1977–78 is as follows:
In addition, there will have been some expenditure by the electricity generating boards.
1977–78 £'000 DOE — UKAEA 1,870 BNFL 3,200 MAFF 670 NRPB 195 NERC 50 Total 5,985 1978–79 DOE 3,400 UKAEA — BNFL 6,700 MAFF 960 NRPB 90 NERC 120 Total 11,270 1979–80 DOE 5,000 UKAEA — BNFL 8,500 MAFF 1,020 NRPB 120 NERC 270 Total 14,910 Except in the cases of DOE and BNFL most of the above expenditure was incurred in-house. The breakdown of DOE and BNFL expenditure for 1979–78 and 1979–80 by contractor is:
688W
£'000 DOE 1978–79 In-house — UKAEA 3,400 NERC — Others — Total 3,400 1979–80 In-house — UKAEA 4,100* NERC 830 Others 70 Total 5,000 BNFL 1978–79 In-house 5,000 UKAEA 1,500 NERC — Others 200 Total 6,700 1979–80 In-house 5,100† UKAEA 3,000 NERC — Others 400 Total 8,500 * About £1 million of this was subcontracted to NERC for geological research. † Estimated. NOTE: The abbreviations used are as follows:
UKAEA—United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.
BNFL—British Nuclear Fuel Ltd.
NRPB—National Radiological Protection Board.
NERC—Natural Environment Research Council.