§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what evaluation his Department has made of the (i) short, (ii) medium and (iii) long-term safety of the storage of(a) liquid and (b) vitrified high-activity long-lived radio active waste at Sellafield. [14088]
§ Mr. PageI have been asked to reply.
The safety of stored liquid high-activity waste at Sellafield has been fully evaluated by the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate. In 1995, HSE published a report entitled "The Safety of the Storage of Liquid High-Level Waste at BNFL Sellafield" setting out HSE's assessment of the safety issues involved. This report concludes that:
current programmes should lead to the backlog of liquid high-activity waste currently stored at Sellafield's high-level waste storage facility being converted to vitrified waste by around 2015; and thatsafety provisions for the storage of high-activity liquid up until then are acceptable,A copy of that report is held in the Library of the House.
Arrangement for the storage of vitrified high-activity waste at Sellafield have also been fully evaluated. HSE has concluded that adequate safety provisions have been made for the operational life of the vitrified store which is expected to be at least 50 years. HSE will continue to monitor the safety of the storage of high-activity waste at Sellafield.