§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list the current sites of the GM crop trials; and if she will make a statement. [112930]
§ Mr. MeacherThe table below lists the organisations currently holding consent under part B of Directive 2001/18 to release GM crops for trial purposes in England at the locations shown. Consent 01/R33/11 issued to Aventis CropScience UK Ltd covers the programme of Farm Scale Evaluations of autumn sown oil seed rape. This information is also available on the Defra website. GM crop trials in Scotland are subject to consents issued by the Scottish Executive.
§ Mr. MeacherThe 2001 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory gives the time profile for generation of the 1,490,000m3 of low level waste referred to in my answer of 29 April 2003, Official Report, column 308W. This shows arisings of that waste during the period to 2120 with the majority being produced after 2070. For this reason the currently estimated life of the existing Drigg disposal facility is of the order of 50 years. The capacity of the site and its forecast life will be reviewed by the 527W Environment Agency in light of safety cases provided by the site's operators, British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL). At some future point either extension of Drigg or the identification of another disposal site will be necessary. Further consideration can begin to be given to this once the outcome of the Environment Agency's review of the safety cases is known, around mid-2004. The outcome will provide vital information for consideration of disposal capacity, as well as providing a basis for the Agency's review of the Drigg disposal authorisation.