§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the references in the United Kingdom radioactive waste inventory to the option of storing complete submarine reactor compartments ashore; and what review Her Majesty's Government are making of the policy of dismantling such reactor plant for storage at the proposed Nirex repository. [7464]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe Government consider that it is appropriate for decommissioned nuclear-powered submarines to be stored safely afloat at the location where they are decommissioned, pending final disposal. This policy is kept under review to take account of technical or other developments. Our current assessment is that interim storage afloat provides a safe and cost effective route to final disposal.
As is stated in the UK NIREX 1994 radioactive waste inventory other alternatives to interim storage afloat, including the removal of the rector compartment in one piece and its storage on land, are kept under review.
The perceived final disposal route for the intermediate level waste remaining in the reactor compartments of decommissioned submarines is the deep repository being developed by NIREX, early next century.