Long-Term Radioactive Waste Management in the United Kingdom—Nirex Perspective
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper sets out the background to and history of radioactive waste management in the United Kingdom (UK). It describes the lessons learned from past attempts to implement a long-term management solution, and outlines the UK Government’s current initiatives to put in place a publicly acceptable policy. The paper explains the role of Nirex, the body charged with providing the UK with safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable options for the long-term management of radioactive materials. It also addresses, from a Nirex perspective, issues relating to the future of radioactive waste management in the UK.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bacon, M., Nuclear Installations Inspectorate St. Peters House, Cochrane, J., Scottish EPA Head Office; and Newstead, S., Environment Agency. (2003). “Developments in UK regulation of nuclear wastes.” Proc., 9th Int. Conf. on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management, (ICEM’03), ASME, New York.
Commission of the European Communities. (1997). “On the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.” Directive 85/337/EEC(1985) amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC(1997).
Commission of the European Communities. (2001). Directive 2001/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Plans and Programs on the Environment 2001.
Commission of the European Communities. (2003a). A draft proposal for a council (Euratom) directive “Setting out the basic obligations and general principles for the safety of nuclear installations.” Com (2003)yyy final.
Commission of the European Communities. (2003b). A draft proposal for a Council Euratom Directive “The management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.” COM(2003)yyy Final.
Defra (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs). (2001). Managing radioactive waste safely. Proposals for developing a policy for managing solid radioactive waste in the UK, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Scottish Executive, The National Assembly for Wales, Department of the Environment.
Defra. (2003). “Margaret Beckett announces way forward on radioactive waste management.” Defra news release July 16, 2003, ⟨www.defra.gov.uk/news⟩.
Defra and the Devolved Administrations. (2002). “Summary of responses to the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) consultation” and “Understanding and addressing issues of radioactive waste: Report of a public seminar held on 28 February 2002 at the Royal Overseas League, London.” QMW Public Policy Seminars, RW 3/34/18.
Department of Trade and Industry. (2003). “Energy white paper our energy future—Creating a low carbon economy.” Presented to Parliament February 2003, Cm 5761, The Stationery Office, London.
ENRESA. (1999). Nirex and University of Wales, Environmental Impact Assessments and Geological Repositories for Radioactive Waste, EC Contract B4-3070/97/000821/MAR/C3 and EC Contract B4-3040/98/000429/MAR/C3.
Environment Agency. (2001). Environment agency guidance on the conditioning of intermediate level waste.
Greber, M., Frech, E., and Hillier, J. (1994). “The disposal of Canada’s nuclear fuel waste: Public involvement and social aspects.” AECL-10712, COG-93-2.
Health and Safety Executive. (2001). Nuclear Safety Directorate guidance for inspectors on the management of radioactive materials and radioactive waste on nuclear licensed sites.
IAEA. (1997). Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, IAEA.
Market Research Services. (2002). Benchmarking public opinion on the management of radioactive waste, DEFRA Commissioned research for Radioactive Substances Division.
Nirex. (2002a). “The 2001 United Kingdom radioactive waste inventory.” Defra, Nirex. Eight reports: DEFRA/RAS/02.003-10; Nirex reports N/041-48.
Nirex. (2002b). Compensation in radioactive waste management: Ethical issues in the treatment of host communities. A contractor’s report to Nirex.
Nirex. (2003a). “Nirex to be made independent.” Nirex press release July 16, 2003. ⟨www.nirex.co.uk⟩.
Nirex. (2003b). “The Nirex phased disposal concept.” Nirex Rep. N/075.
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. (2002). Draft guidance on the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive.
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. (1997). “Radioactive waste–Where next?” Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) Rep. 107.
Posiva Oy. (1999). “The final disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel.” Environmental impact assessment Report.
Select Committee on Science and Technology. (1999). “Management of nuclear waste.” Rep. HL Paper 41, The Stationery Office, London.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9 • Issue 1 • January 2005
Pages: 20 - 32
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 24, 2004
Accepted: Aug 24, 2004
Published online: Jan 1, 2005
Published in print: Jan 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.