§ Mr. Douglas-Mannasked the Secretary of State for Energy what quantities of nuclear waste, in volume, he expects to be produced in the United Kingdom by nuclear power stations over each of the next 15 years; what type and size of containers he contemplates will be required to store such waste; and for how long it will be necessary to store such containers before the dangerous properties of the waste are exhausted.
§ Mr. BennThe volume arising year by year depends on the rate at which new nuclear power stations are brought into service and their load factors. A broad estimate, however, is that highly active liquid fission product waste for storage will not exceed 150 cubic metres a year in the period, stored initially in high integrity, double walled, stainless steel tanks of 150 cubic metre capacity.
By about 1990 conversion of liquid waste into blocks of inert, insoluble glass should be in progress, and over a few years all the accumulated stock should be so converted. These, enclosed in stainless steel, would be stored under water in 342W special ponds until they could safely be disposed of by one or other of the methods now being studied. How long that would be remains uncertain, but while a few of the isotopes in the waste remain radioactive for a very long time others decay quickly and the combined activity will have fallen by about 90 per cent. in 20 years.
The control and management of storage facilities are closely monitored by the Health and Safety Executive to ensure that the high standards of safety are maintained.