HC Deb 02 June 1992 vol 208 c384W
Mrs. Mahon

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to dry-store all nuclear waste on site and ban the disposal of nuclear waste underground or at sea.

Mr. Maclean

Government policy for radioactive waste management is set out in chapter 15 of the 1990 White Paper "This Common Inheritance". High-level or heat generating radioactive waste will be stored at Sellafield and Dounreay for at least 50 years to allow the heat and radioactivity to reduce. It is planned to dispose of intermediate and low-level radioactive waste in the deep disposal facility which UK Nirex is responsible for developing. The Government are reviewing whether the sea disposal option for the disposal of radioactive waste needs to be maintained.