HL Deb 24 July 1990 vol 521 cc1436-7WA
Lord Jenkins of Putney

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What volumes of low and intermediate level radioactive waste arising from the reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel at Sellafield and Dounreay respectively will be sent to UK Nirex for storage at its planned repository; what progress is being made with the planned repository; and what are the locations of the waste at the present time.

Lord Strathclyde

No radioactive waste arising from the future reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel at Dounreay will be disposed of in Nirex's proposed repository. However, about 3,300 cubic metres of intermediate-level radioactive waste at Sellafield and 200 cubic metres of such waste at Dounreay, both resulting from the pre-1976 reprocessing contracts for foreign spent fuel, will be disposed of at the repository. Site investigations for the repository are currently under way at Sellafield and Dounreay and are expected to be completed by the end of 1991. The repository is due to become operational in 2005. Meanwhile, intermediate-level waste is being stored at Sellafield and low-level waste is disposed of at Drigg.