§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with current methods of nuclear waste disposal at Drigg; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegraveCurrent methods of disposal at Drigg do not represent any unacceptable risks to those who work there or to those who live nearby. Nevertheless, improvements can be and are being made.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what exploratory work on potential low level, intermediate level and high level nuclear waste sites have been carried out since 1979.
§ Mr. WaldegraveResearch was carried out on behalf of the Department at Altnabreac in Scotland and in Cornwall to develop procedures to investigate sites for the disposal of high level waste. No exploratory field work has been done on potential sites for low-level or intermediate-level radioactive waste since 1979, except for one soil sample taken at the Elstow site.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what measures will be taken to monitor radiation exposure in local populations and water supplies at the chosen site for a nuclear dump;
(2) what measures will be taken to monitor radiation activity at a nuclear waste dump over a 10-year period once it is operational.
§ Mr. WaldegraveRadioactive waste disposal sites operated by NIREX will be licensed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and all waste disposals authorised by my Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It will be a condition of the authorisation that the site operator carries out a programme of environmental monitoring agreed with the authorising Departments. This must be comprehensive and will include the monitoring of air, surface water, ground water, and foodstuffs in the surrounding area.
In addition to the monitoring by the site operator, the regulatory authorities will carry out their own checks.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any efforts have been made by his Department to assess the longer term effects of low level radiation on local populations; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Department of the Environment commissions research on the techniques and safety of radioactive waste disposal. Research into the long-term health effects of low level ionising radiation is commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Security. The Committee on the Medical Effects of Radiation in the Environment provides expert advice on this matter.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many metres deep nuclear waste will be buried at the chosen site.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThis is a matter that will be addressed by the United Kingdom Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive Ltd. following a detailed programme of on-site investigations and safety assessments. The sites identified by NIREX offer the potential for a variety of engineering solutions in terms of depth of burial.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment on what criteria low level and intermediate level nuclear waste are to be segregated for dumping.
§ Mr. WaldegraveDefinitions of low-level and intermediate level radioactive waste are set out in the fifth annual report of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee. Any authorisation for disposal of waste will take account of the characteristics of the disposal site and facility such that the "Principles for the Protection of the Human Environment," (HMSO, December 1984) are respected.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many studies have been carried out by his Department since 1979 on the behaviour of radionuclides released from sites of nuclear waste disposal.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy Department is conducting an extensive programme of research on the physical arid chemical processes which could have a bearing on the migration of radionuclides from a nuclear waste disposal site on land. Summaries of this research are given in the annual progress reports prepared by my Department's radioactive waste division arid published by HMSO. About 150 research contracts for such studies have been completed since 1979.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if any improvements are to be made to 141W emergency procedures to be followed in the event of a leak of radioactivity during burial of nuclear low level or intermediate waste; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WaldegraveDisposals of radioactive wastes from nuclear and other sources are made at the Drigg site operated by British Nuclear Fuels plc. Details are published annually in the BNFL annual reports. There is no requirement for the radioactive waste to be contained within waste packages at Drigg, and therefore there can be no question of a leak of radioactivity during the process of burial.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies have been conducted by his Department into the conditioning and containment of intermediate waste since 1979.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Department has commissioned a substantial research programme on the generic options for the conditioning and management of intermediate level waste. Abstracts of these studies are published annually in the progress reports on "Sponsored Research on Radioactive Waste Management" which are available from the Department's sub-library at South Ruislip.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria he has used to judge the adequacy of NIREX's engineered containment philosophy for shallow repositories of nuclear waste.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy Department will need to be satisfied that any proposals made by UK NIREX Ltd. for shallow repositories comply with the requirements set out in "Principles for the Protection of the Human Environment" published by HMSO, December 1984.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what current measures his Department is taking to alleviate the radioactive contamination which has occurred in the Irish Sea.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI refer the hon. Member to my reply to a question from the hon. Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) on 30 April, at columns 413–14.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to the extent to which any future dumping site in the United Kingdom will be engineered on a basis similar to existing sites in the United States of America.
§ Mr. WaldegraveVarious designs for radioactive waste disposal facilities have been investigated in the United States of America and several different types are in use. The experience they have gained will be taken into account when my Department assesses specific proposals made by UK NIREX Ltd. Some of the options currently under investigation in the United Kingdom are described in the executive's publications.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what evidence his Department has that proves burial of nuclear waste is technologically safe.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Department sponsors a considerable programme of independent research to assess the safety of waste disposal technology. The results of these studies indicate that the risks to the public, using the methods proposed will be less than the targets set by the authorising Departments as specified in "Principles for the Protection of the Human Environment" HMSO December 1984.