§ Mr. Frank Cookasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many sites in England are licensed for the disposal of radioactive wastes; what is the exact 502W location of each site; when their current licences are due for renewal; whether any sites are as yet unused; and who owns each of the sites.
§ Mr. WaldegraveAuthorisations for the disposal of radioactive waste are issued by my Department under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960. They relate solely to the disposal of specified wastes from or on specified premises, and do not constitute a general permission for the use of a particular site for that purpose. Such authorisations are not given unless the Radiochemical Inspectorate of my Department is fully satisfied that the proposed method of disposal is safe and appropriate for the wastes in question.
Where the method involved is disposal with ordinary household refuse or controlled burial on a normal landfill site, the authorisation is not given unless the Radiochemical Inspectorate consider that the waste will be safe without continued surveillance and monotoring. Many authorisations relate to a single consignment of waste or are time-limited; otherwise an authorisation remains in force until varied or revoked, whether or not it is used. Because of the nature and low-level of the radioactivity involved, the sites to which authorised disposals are made with householder refuse or by controlled burial are not comprehensively listed.
In his statement on 25 October—[Vol. 47, c. 156–57]—my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said that disposal sites developed by NIREX for solid radioactive wastes from the nuclear industry would in addition be licensed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive. At present however, pending the making of appropriate regulations, disposal facilities for solid wastes are not in themselves licensable. The site 503W owned and operated by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. at Drigg in Cumbria is licensed by NII because it is also used for the storage of bulk quantities of radioactive matter.
§ Mr. Frank Cookasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how often the radiochemical inspectorate inspects licensed sites for the disposal of radioactive wastes; if he will provide details of the results of the latest visits to each of the sites; whether any of the sites registered radiation levels above those cited as safe in the Radioactive Substances Act 1960; and what radiation levels were registered for each site.
§ Mr. WaldegraveSites used for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste by controlled burial are inspected before an authorisation is given in order to assess their suitability. Subsequent inspections are carried out in order to ensure that the procedures specified in the authorisation have been complied with, and in some cases in order to carry out monitoring as an additional reassurance or precaution. In general, the number of visits is determined by the radiological significance of the disposal.
In the case of the sites operated by Cleveland county council and ICI Ltd. at Cowpen Bewley in the hon. Member's constituency, the inspector for the area made routine visits last week and satisfied himself that they are being properly managed.
The 1960 Act does not itself specify safe radiation levels, but radiological protection objectives for waste management were published in the annex to the White Paper on radioactive waste mangement—Cmnd. 8607—in July 1982, and are based on the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection as interpretated by the National Radiological Protection Board. In practice, doses to the public from disposal of low-level radioactive solid waste would be, at most, only a very small fraction of the limits stated there. When the inspector visited the Cowpen Bewley sites last week, he found that the surface radiaction level at the county council site is not raised above the natural background level. At the ICI site surface radiation levels result primarily from the presence of naturally radioactive materials which are nevertheless of a sufficiently low level of activity to be exempt from control under the Act.
§ Mr. Frank Cookasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list al those sites which have in the past been licensed for the disposal of radioactive wastes, giving the dates of their original licensing by his Department and when their licences expired; what facilities and procedures exist for the continued periodical monitoring of these sites for radioactive levels; and if he will list the owners of these sites.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI assume the hon. Member has in mind sites on which controlled burial of radioactive waste has taken place in accordance with authoristation under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960.
Because of the form in which the relevant information is held, the comprehensive lists requested are not readily available. Normally long-term monitoring is not necessary because of the low level and relatively short life of the activity involved.
§ Mr. Frank Cookasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what procedures exist to inspect and monitor the work of the private contractors engaged in the transportation and disposal of radioactive wastes to 504W licensed sites throughout the country; if he will provide a list of all those contractors who are authorised to carry out such work; and if he will further break this list down by source of waste, nature of waste and disposal site concerned.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThere is no system of authorisation for contractors. The transport of radioactive materials is subject to general regulations which are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport, and the precautions required by those regulations are proportionate to the nature and level of the radioactivity involved. Before an authorisation is given to the relevant waste producer for the disposal of specified wastes, the Radiochemical Inspectorate considers all aspects of the proposed arrangements, including any transport arrangements. Contractors are also subject to the provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Where that is justifiable, a radiochemical inspector is present while the disposal operation is being carried out, and he may check the site subsequently.