Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Hansard, 20 October 1993)

§ 34. Mr. Colvin
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to come to a decision on the commissioning of THORP.

§ Mr. Yeo
Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have granted British Nuclear Fuels plc's existing authorisations to discharge liquid and gaseous radioactive wastes from Sellafield, to permit the testing of the company's thermal oxide reprocessing plant with natural and depleted uranium. The variations came into effect on 2 September 1993.
The grant of the variations is without prejudice to consideration of the company's main applications for authorisation to operate THORP, currently being undertaken by the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. If the decisions on the main applications do not permit THORP to operate, the variations would require the company to stop testing and decontaminate the plant.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 28 June,Official Report, column 388, if he will set out the technical areas in which RWMAC has been asked to do further work and the timescale set for it to submit its report.
253W

§ Mr. Yeo
Last year, the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee—RWMAC—produced a first report on the proposals by British Nuclear Fuels plc —BNFL—to offer waste substitution to those foreign customers with whom its contracts provide for the return of waste. Under its proposals, BNFL would return an equivalent amount of high-level radioactive waste in place of intermediate and low-level waste arising from the reprocessing of their spent fuel.
British Nuclear Fuels plc has proposed the integrated radiological toxic potential—ITP—system for comparing the radiological equivalence between different waste streams. I have written to the chairman of RWMAC requesting the advice of the committee on whether ITP is a suitable basis for determining radiological equivalence, whether there are any limitations to its application and whether, in the committee's opinion, BNFL's proposals are on this basis broadly neutral. The committee has also been asked to identify the environmental implications resulting from substitution and to advise in what circumstances these may be significant.
The committee's advice is expected early next year.