§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the health detriment to the United Kingdom population of the BNFL proposal of retaining intermediate and low-level wastes and return of high-level wastes.
§ Mr. YeoI have been asked to reply.
Since 1976, all BNFL's contracts for reprocessing overseas spent fuel included provision for the return of wastes. Under its proposals for waste substitution, BNFL would offer to return to customers, with whom it has such 506W contracts, an equivalent amount in radiological terms of high-level radioactive waste in place of intermediate and low-level waste arising from reprocessing.
We have asked the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee for further advice on the integrated radiological toxic potential system, which BNFL proposes as the basis for determining radiological equivalence.