HC Deb 20 March 1997 vol 292 cc688-9W
Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the advice the Nirex peer reviewers provided to Nirex in report S96–004 appendix 3 concerning the report title used in the document submitted to the review panel for initial review concerning the use of the word hydrogeological. [20996]

Mr. Clappison

I understand that the baseline report review group advised Nirex that the use of the word "hydrogeological" in the initial title proposed for the report was too general and therefore gave insufficient guidance as to the content of the report.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his review of the application by UK Nirex Ltd. to build a rock characterisation facility at Longlands farm, Cumbria; and what has been the cost of this review to his Department. [21307]

Sir Paul Beresford

The Secretary of State's reasons for dismissing the planning appeal by UK Nirex Ltd. are set out fully in the decision letter which was issued on 17 March. A copy of the letter has been sent to the hon. Member. The specific cost of individual planning appeals is not available.

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the names and numbers of the reports prepared by the disposal safety assessment team co-ordinated by Nirex on scientific and technical issues on(a) the disposal of radioactive wastes and (b) the development of the safety analysis of the proposed repository evaluated by (i) his Department, (ii) Nirex and (iii) the UK Atomic Energy Authority. [20997]

Mr. Gummer

This information should be requested from UK Nirex Ltd. The report produced by Nirex's disposal safety assessment team on which Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution's review studies were based was Nirex report 337 "Deep Waste Repository: A Preliminary Assessment of Post-closure Performance", D. E. Billington (editor), 1992, four volumes. A number of research reports containing supporting information were also reviewed.