§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will assess the advantages of creating a joint environmental bilateral inspectorate with the Irish Republic to monitor the activities at radioactive discharges from Sellafield. [28172]
§ Angela EagleWhile the regulation of discharges from UK nuclear installations must remain a matter for the UK competent authorities, a UK-Irish Contact Group meets biannually to provide a forum for officials from both countries to discuss matters relating to radioactivity. This includes the exchange of monitoring data on levels of radioactivity in the Irish Sea.
In addition, Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty requires the European Commission to determine whether the implementation of any plan for the disposal of radioactive waste is liable to result in the radioactive contamination of the water, soil or airspace of another Member state.
Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for(a) 1970, (b) 1980, (c) 1990 and (d) 1997 the volume of (1) highly active, (2) intermediate level and (3) low level radioactive waste stored at Sellafield. [28276]
§ Angela EagleApart from 1980, we do not have estimates of the volumes of wastes stored at Sellafield for the years requested. Data for the years 1974, 1980, 1984, 1989 and 1994 are given in cubic metres in the table.
11974 21980 31984 41989 51994 High-level waste 550 900 1,100 1,317 61,476 Intermediate-level waste 12,000 23,320 27,514 30,543 739,997 Low-level Waste n/a n/a n/a 601 1,633 1 Cmnd 6618, Sixth Report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, HMSO, 1976 2 Duncan, A G and Brown, SRA. Nuclear Energy Vol 21, 3 p161–166, 1982 3 Fairclough, M P et al DOE/RW/85.009, The joint DOE/Nirex Radioactive Waste Inventory: January 1984, 1985 4DOE/RW/89.110, The 1989 United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory, 1990 5 DOE/RAS/96.001, The 1994 United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory, 1996 6includes 78m3 of conditional waste 7includes 2,179m3 of conditional waste. A copy of the summary of The 1994 United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory called Radioactive Waste Arisings in the UK - A Summary is in the Library. The next inventory—for 1998—will be published in 1999.