§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, of the several sites used for the storage of nuclear waste mentioned in the answer to the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, North,Official Report, 24 November, c. 253, what information he has as to the population in each location within three to five miles of the facilities.
§ Mr. WaldegraveIt has not been possible in the time available to consult the authorities in other countries, but it appears that a few hundred people live in the immediate neighbourhood of the Centre de la Manche and the town of Cherbourg—population 35,000—is 15 miles away. The Konrad iron ore mine is within a few miles of the town of Salzgitter—population 116,000—and the Asse salt mine is about 15 miles further away. The site of the new centre in the Netherlands has not yet been decided.
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§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will disregard for the purposes of rate surcharge any sums required to be spent by the Bedfordshire county council and North Bedfordshire borough council in preparing their case against the locating of a nuclear waste deposit in Bedfordsire; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy right hon. Friend will consider carefully any representations which these authorities make for such expenditure to be disregarded for the purposes of calculating liability to grant abatement.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the acreage of the Central Electricity Generating Board site at Elstow, Befordshire, the area designated for nuclear waste disposal, the depth of the clay at the location and the position of the water table.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Central Electricity Generating Board site is 350 acres, and at this stage, NIREX has not identified a specific area within it. I understand that the surface stratum is thought to consist of 10 to 15 ft of weathered Oxford clay, with 40 to 50 ft of unweathered Oxford clay beneath that. This information and the position of the water table would need to be confirmed as part of any site investigations undertaken by NIREX.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the blue clay deposits in Peterborough were considered as a possible site for a nuclear waste deposit.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe identification of possible sites for development as radioactive waste repositories is the responsibility of the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from commercial and industrial companies in the proximity of the proposed site for disposal of nuclear waste at Elstow, Bedfordshire; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegraveNo such representations have been received.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, when making its initial proposals for the proposed nuclear waste disposal site at Elstow, the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive included any assessment of (a) the quantity of Oxford clay which would be sterilised as a consequence, (b) the projected radiation levels from the pit while it is being filled and after it has been filled and sealed and (c) the number of years for which the site would be used for such disposal.
§ Mr. WaldegraveSpecific proposals put forward by NIREX will be assessed against principles for the protection of the human environment published by the authorising Departments under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960. Draft principles have been published as a consulation document and are in the Library of the House. It would not be necessary to place restrictions on the use or excavation of the land outside the boundary of the facility. I can say now however that no sterilisation would be permitted of the clay surrounding a shallow burial site for radioactive wastes. The facilites for which NIREX are 17W seeking sites are planned to receive all low and intermediate level wastes currently held in store and likely to arise some way into the next century.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has estimated the level of radiation from standing railway wagons awaiting unloading at the proposed site for the diposal of nuclear waste at Elstow, in considering the proposal to establish the site.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe transport of waste to a waste disposal site would be subject to the safety regulations referred to by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport in his reply on 21 November—[Vol 49, c.13.] These prescribe rigorous limits on external radioation formulated to give full protection to workers and the public in all circumstances.
I do not envisage that a waste disposal site would be operated in such a way that there would be any perceptible radioation dose to the public from standing railway wagons awaiting unloading.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive has made any assessment of the number of full-time employees which would be required at the proposed nuclear waste disposal site at Elstow.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI understand that the executive has estimated that about 300 people might be employed in the construction phase of a shallow facility and 50 to 100 in the operational phase.