Waste Management

UK / ‘Significant Work’ To Do On Safety Case For Disposal, Say Regulators

By David Dalton
1 November 2019

‘Significant Work’ To Do On Safety Case For Disposal, Say Regulators
The organisation responsible for implementing UK government policy on geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste has “significantly improved” its safety case, but still has a significant amount of work to do, the country’s joint regulators said in a report.

The Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Regulation said Radioactive Waste Management’s (RWM) approach to identifying and addressing new legislative requirements is adequate.

The Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Regulation said Radioactive Waste Management’s (RWM) approach to identifying and addressing new legislative requirements is adequate.

RWM has made significant progress towards addressing the need to protect groundwater resources and human health from the non-radioactive component of the inventory for disposal, and is providing the necessary advice to waste producers, the report said.

Government policy is that higher activity radioactive waste will be managed in the long-term through geological disposal, which is being investigated alongside interim storage of waste and supporting research.

RWM is responsible for implementing government policy on geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste and for providing advice on managing radioactive waste. It is carrying out generic preparatory work for a geological disposal facility, but no sites have yet been identified.

In December 2018 RWM, a subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, said it was about to begin the search for a willing host community and a suitable site to construct a geological disposal facility.

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