HC Deb 12 November 1981 vol 12 cc148-9W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much has been spent in £ sterling by the Commission of the European Communities on research and development into radioactive waste management for each of the last 10 years at current prices; and how much is being budgeted for 1982–83.

Mr. Giles Shaw

Since 1975 the Community has supported radioactive waste management research in member States by its indirect action programme. The actual expenditure in each year for which information is available is as follows:

*European units *Sterling equivalent £ million
1975 l.314M u.a. 0.548
1976 3.797M u.a. 1.582
1977 4.635M u.a. 1.931
1978 1.030M u.a. 0.684
1979 5.353M EUA 3.372
1980 5.010M EUA 3.382
For subsequent years, only budget figures are available
1981 6.231 ECU 3.922
†l982 6.864 ECU 3.590

Notes:

* (i) the u.a. (unit of account) had a fixed rate of 2–4 to £1.

(ii) the EUA/ECU (European Unit of Account/European Currency Unit) have been converted using the usual budget factors as follows:

  • 1979=1.5875 to £1
  • 1980=1.4813 to £1
  • 1981=1.5889 to £1
  • 1982=1.9118 to £1

† Not yet approved by the European Parliament.

In addition, the Community supports research at its own joint research establishment at Ispra in Italy. This work forms part of the nuclear safety programme and figures are not separately available for the limited amount of work there on radioactive waste management.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what work and projects have been carried out by the Commission of the European Communities into the management of radioactive wastes since 1970.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The Community's joint research centre at Ispra in Italy has carried out work on risk evaluation, protective barriers, actinide separation and actinide monitoring. In addition, the Commission of the European Communities has supported, by its indirect action programme, research by member States on a large number of individual projects. The current five year programme for 1980–1984 includes work on eight areas:

  1. (i)7 immobilisation of low- and medium-level waste, process development, and pilot-plant operation;
  2. (ii) conditioning of highly active solid waste: fuel cladding and dissolution residues;
  3. (iii) treatment of medium-level liquid wastes;
  4. (iv) treatment of alpha emitting wastes;
  5. (v) testing and evaluation of solidified high level waste;
  6. (vi) shallow land burial;
  7. (vii) storage and disposal in geological formations:
  8. (viii) immobilisation and storage of gaseous wasted.

Similar work was carried out in the previous five-year programme for 1975 to 1979.