UKEN Policy Checklist - Nuclear Waste & Reprocessing.

Under Section 13 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA 93), the accumulation or disposal of radioactive waste requires authorisation by the Environment Agency.

UK Strategy for Radioactive Discharges 2001 - 2020 was published in June 2000. Statutory guidance on the regulation of

radioactive discharges into the Environment from Licensed Sites has been published with responses required by 31 January 2001. The UK is to face prosecution in the European Court for failing to notify the Commission of its intention to decommission a plutonium production plant at Sellafield. The Government had claimed that the plant had been used for military purposes and was not therefore subject to EU law.

UK Government must make fundamental decisions about the future of Sellafield and either allow it to continue to develop the Thorp plant as a re-processor of international nuclear waste or convert the site to manage and store spent plutonium and uranium. A Green Paper on the options is due shortly.

UK has published national strategy for achieving the objectives outlined in the Sintra Statement under the OSPAR Convention for reducing discharges of radioactive waste to the marine environment.

The Government's Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee has said that the current planning system is not sufficiently capable of guaranteeing that land for potential development is free of contamination. However the RWMAC has said that low-level radioactive waste could be disposed of in landfill sites provided long-term safety could be guaranteed.

Copyright UK Environment News Ltd - Vol 4, Issue 7, Dec 2000/Jan 2001. Tel 020 7351 3954. UK Environment News cannot accept any incidental or consequential liability for information carried in this article.