§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether his Department has had preliminary consultations with the Bedfordshire county council, the Mid-Bedfordshire district council and the North Bedfordshire district council about the projected nuclear waste storage facilities in Bedfordshire.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy Department is in touch with officials of these authorities, but at this stage contacts are limited to discussion of procedural and administrative matters, in order to avoid prejudicing the quasi-judical position of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in determining planning appeals arising from proposals by NIREX.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied that there is satisfactory provision for compensation for planning blight, especially injurious affection in the event of house prices being affected by proximity to a projected nuclear waste deposit.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe blight provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 protect the position of people who cannot readily sell their property because it is under threat of compulsory purchase. The provisions do not apply to land which is not itself liable to be acquired. Claims may be made under the Land Compensation Act 1973 where loss of property value is caused by certain physical factors arising from the use of public works, such as noise, fumes and smoke, but only where there is 143W statutory immunity from legal actions for nuisance. The physical factors, which are set out in section 1 of the Act, do not include proximity to the works as such.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, on an annual basis, what tonnage of nuclear waste it is intended to place in the Elstow site in Bedfordshire, if authorised; and if he will give a detailed description of the items likely to be deposited.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThere is as yet no specific proposal to use the Elstow site, although the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive has announced its intention to investigate its suitability for possible shallow burial of low and intermediate-level radioactive waste. The types of waste suitable for shallow land burial depend on the nature of the site and the type of facilities constructed. Typical materials may include ion exchange resins used to decontaminate effluents from nuclear plant; components removed from reactor fuel elements; and clothing, tools, and cleaning and wrapping materials with suspect or trace levels of activity which originate in the nuclear industry, hospitals and medical research. However, their disposal will be subject to the terms of an eventual authorisation. The volume of packaged waste available for this form of disposal has been estimated by my Department as about 4,200 cu m annually from 1990 onwards. The tonnage would depend on the treatment and packaging processes used.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has consulted the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and whether there have been joint consultations with the Anglian water authority
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Site Radionuclide Annual discharges (Curies) 1982 British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Sellafield Ruthenium-103 458 Ruthenium-106 11,316 Caesium-134 3,736 Caesium-137 54,060 Plutonium-238 127 Plutonium-239 + 240 434 Plutonium-241 13,105 Chapelcross Ruthenium-106 0.21 Caesium-134 2.4 Caesium-137 29.4 United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Winfrith Ruthenium-106 4.9 Dounreay Ruthenium-106 110 Caesium-137 336 Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) Berkeley Ruthenium-106 0.09 Caesium-134 1.07 Caesium-137 9.85 Bradwell Ruthenium-106 0.13 Caesium-134 2.65 Caesium-137 16.96 Hinkley Point "A" Ruthenium-106 3.6 Caesium-134 2.88 Caesium-137 17.26 Hinkley Point "B" Ruthenium-106 0.04 Caesium-134 0.02 Caesium-137 0.04 Dungeness "A" Ruthenium-106 0.02 Caesium-134 0.97 Caesium-137 17.12 Sizewell Ruthenium-106 0.14 Caesium-134 1.12 about the disposal of nuclear waste in Bedfordshire and its effect on the water table in the area pursuant to section 8 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1960.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy Department works closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, with which it would act jointly in authorising any repository proposed by the Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive.
The Anglian water authority is one of the bodies invited to comment on the draft principles for the protection of the human environment published by the authorising Departments on 25 October. NIREX will now be investigating the possible effect on the water table of a repository at Elstow, along with other relevant factors. If it subseqeuntly decides to put forward a specific proposal, that proposal will be assessed against the final version of principles mentioned above and the consultation provisions of the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 will be observed.
§ Mr. Norman Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total discharge into the sea per annum of plutonium, ruthenium and caesium from each United Kingdom nuclear establishment; and what progress has been made in the design of filtering techniques to avoid the need for open sea liquid discharge.
§ Mr. Waldegrave[pursuant to his reply, 9 November 1983, c. 153–54]: The figures for CEGB and SSEB power stations should have been expressed as curies, but in fact represented percentages of the total discharges of all radioisotapes from those stations. The correct figures are as follows. The BNFL and UKAEA figures were correct and are not affected.
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Site Radionuclide Annual discharges (Curies) 1982 Caesium-137 20.16 Oldbury Ruthenium-106 0.27 Caesium-134 1.62 Caesium-137 24.79 Wylfa Ruthenium-106 0.03 Caesium-134 0.03 Caesium-137 0.54 Hunterston "A" Ruthenium-106 6.6 Caesium-134 39.7 Caesium-137 122.2 Hunterston "B" Ruthenium-106 0.23 Caesium-134 0.19 Caesium-137 0.24