Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (Hansard, 10 June 1981)

§ Mr. King

The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee's second annual report to the Secretaries of State for the Environment, Scotland, and Wales has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House. It covers a number of aspects of waste management and I note the reaffirmation of the view in the committee's first report that current principles and practices are generally satisfactory.

For the relatively small volumes of high-level waste, about which here has been public concern, the committee has assessed the respective merits of storage and disposal. In the light of the decision already taken to vitrify such wastes, it has recommended that serious consideration should be given to the possibility that storage, using existing technology, might be the best solution for at least 50 years and possibly much longer. This has the advantage that, by the end of that time, the heat output would be substantially reduced. It would also facilitate supervision. The committee's view is that a decision could then be taken on whether to continue to store these wastes or to 164W dispose of them in one of the ways currently under investigation: deep underground, on the ocean bed, or under the ocean floor. The report confirms that storage of vitrified waste at or near the surface for a very long period is a realistic and acceptable proposition. The Government recognise the importance of this advice, and we shall give it full weight in future. I am considering what further studies should be carried out, as the committee thought desirable, in order to determine the safe lifetime of such a store.

There are also wastes with a lower level of radioactivity which do not produce heat and do not need vitrification. Disposal of these wastes is already technically possible, and the Committee attaches importance to the development of suitable disposal arrangements for them. The Institute of Geological Sciences is carrying out studies designed to assess sites for potential development as repositories, including a desk study of existing mines and cavities, and test-drilling at existing nuclear sites. The Government accept that it is desirable to make early progress on this matter.

I endorse the committee's view that the public should have as much information as possible about radioactive waste, and that this information should be placed in the full context of the extent of naturally occurring radiation and the risks inherent in all human activities. We reaffirm the commitment in the White Paper "Nuclear Power and the Environment" (Cmnd. 6820) to make the results of current research available in a form comprehensible to the public. An updating of the previous Departments of the Environment and Transport research report "Review of Research on Radioactive Waste Management and Radioactivity in the Environment" will be published later this year.

The other conclusions in the committee's report will be taken into account in the further development and implementation of policy in this field. In the coming year, the committee intends to examine the organisational arrangements for waste disposal, the progress of research into ocean disposal, the decommissioning of nuclear power stations and other nuclear plants, and radioactive wastes from sources other than the nuclear fuel cycle.