MANAGING RADIOACTIVE WASTE SAFELY 2005 PROGRESS REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

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1 MANAGING RADIOACTIVE WASTE SAFELY 2005 PROGRESS REPORT TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE Introduction 1. This is the fourth progress report to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee. It covers the 2005 calendar year. Scope of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely programme and this report 2. In September 2001, UK Government and the devolved administrations issued the consultation paper, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS, Ref 1). Views were sought on the long-term management of the UK s solid, higher activity radioactive waste. The consultation exercise led to the establishment of the independent Committee on Radioactive Water Management (CoRWM). 3. The MRWS consultation document also rasied a number of specific questions relating to the issue of managing the UK s radioactive waste, including: general approach to decommissioning of nuclear sites; policy for waste substitution in respect of overseas spent fuel reprocessed in the UK; arrangements for dealing with redundant, or spent, radioactive sources; storage of radioactive waste on nuclear sites, and its regulation; policy to be adopted for the long-term management of separated plutonium and uranium, including whether some proportion of the UK s stockpiles should be considered as waste; the principle of segregating radioactive waste steps by half-life to help with its long-term management. 4. The third progress report to the EFRA Committee for 2004 (Ref 2) noted the completion of work covering a number of these issues. For example, the Government had published restatements of policy for nuclear site decommissioning and waste substitution during the course of the year (Refs 3 and 4). New regulatory arrangements covering the conditioning and storage of intermediate level radioactive waste ILW) had come into operation on 1 January 2004.

2 5. The way this fourth progress report is structured is first to report progress with the CoRWM programme during There is then a report of the parallel and complementary review of policy for the long-term management of the UK s low level radioactive waste (LLW) announced in March 2005 (Ref 5). There is then a section on ongoing progress with the arrangements for the management of spent sealed sources. And, finally there are reports of a number of other events during the course of 2005, which are relevant to progress of the wider MRWS programme. The work of CoRWM during UK Government and the devolved administrations, as sponsors, established CoRWM to: oversee a review of options for management solid radioactive waste in the UK and to recommend the options, or combination of options, that can provide a long-term solution providing protection for people and the environment for wastes for which no long-term management strategy currently exists that is, high and intermediate level waste now in storage or likely to arise over the next century or two, and some low level waste unsuitable for disposal to Drigg. 7. CoRWM entered 2005 having commenced Phase 2 of its work programme in October 2004 and having launched its first round of public and stakeholder engagement (PSE1) in November In this PSE1 round of public and stakeholder engagement, which ended towards the end of January 2005, CoRWM asked questions on: the radioactive waste management issues that people thought were important; CoRWM s long list of potential management options for the long-term management of this waste; and the process for reducing the long list options to a short list of options which would be the subject of detailed assessment during Phase 3, option assessment stage, of the Committee s work. 9. Following assessment of the outcome of this first round of public and stakeholder consultation, CoRWM went on to finalise its waste inventory. This eventually led to publication of the Committee s final inventory report in July

3 10. The outcome of PSE1 was used to plan the second round of public and stakeholder engagement, PSE2, which ran from April to July This second round of consultation covered the narrowing down of options to the short list for detailed assessment; initial proposals for assessing this short list during Phase 3 of the committee s work; the possibility for combining options to provide an overall waste management strategy; and an invitation to submit initial thoughts on implementation issues. 11. In light of the PSE2 consultation outcome, CoRWM went on, during June and July 2005, to: finalise its short list of options for detailed assessment (to: long-term interim storage; deep geological disposal; phased deep geological disposal; and nearsurface non-geological disposal of a small range of short-lived waste); hold a series of specialist workshops to draw up a scheme for scoring the shortlisted options against the Committee s list of assessment criteria, and identify the data needed to commence the scoring. 12. During August 2005, the Committee prepared its option assessment process, including holding further specialist workshops to test and develop the option scoring scheme and gathering necessary data for this. 13. Commencement of Phase 3, the final option assessment stage, of CoRWM s work commenced in August As part of this work, CoRWM set up 7 specialist panels on issues reflecting the Committee s agreed assessment criteria, for example health and safety, security and the environment. More than 70 specialists were involved in this specialist panel work. 14. To give an example, the health and safety panel included expertise at internationally recognised senior academic level on radiation effects, health and safety, radiation protection, regulation, engineering, geology, geochemistry and transport. There was also representation from the Health Protection Agency (HPA). 15. The expert panels scored each of the short-listed options against CoRWM s finalised assessment criteria. The public and stakeholders were asked to provide an assessment of the relative weight that should be attached to each of CoRWM s assessment criteria. These two inputs are to be used to arrive at an overall score for each of the short-listed options for each of the various categories of higher activity waste. This process is termed Multi-Criteria 3

4 Decision Analysis (MCDA) assessment of the options. In addition, CoRWM will themselves be undertaking a holistic assessment of the options, based on all the information they have gathered. These two streams of work will then be brought together to finalise CoRMW s recommendation. 16. A key emphasis of CoRWM s programme during 2005 has been to review and strengthen the level of scientific and technical input to its work, so that its eventual recommendation can be demonstrated to be scientifically and technically well founded. 17. A range of experts have provided material for CoRWM s public and stakeholder, expert workshops, and events. The Committee can call on a panel of over 200 individual experts to peer review this and other documentation. The Committee has established a Quality Assurance Working Group, involving four external experts, as well as some of it s own members. In addition, Defra s Chief Scientific Advisor has set up an independent panel of experts to review the use of science in the CoRWM programme. 18. Also in Phase 3, options assessment, stage of its work CoRWM has benefited from support from the Royal Society, the Geological Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. The Royal Society invited CoRWM to attend a reported meeting on 7 November where Fellows discussed and provided advice on various aspects of CoRWM s work. The Geological Society have invited CoRWM to an international meeting on radioactive waste management scheduled for January The Royal Academy proposed external experts for CoRWM s Quality Assurance Working Group. 19. CoRWM s future programme for 2006 is to complete and produce an initial report of the options assessment work and draft recommendation by April 2006, to consult on this during May 2006 and thereafter, to finalise its recommendation and deliver it to Ministers by July Full details of CoRWM s work and its outcomes are available in the Committee s website at Review of Low Level Waste Management Policy 4

5 21. In March 2005 the UK Government and devolved administrations jointly announced an intention to review policy for the long-term management of the UK s low level radioactive waste (LLW) (Ref 5). This review would parallel CoRWM s assessment of options for the long-term management of higher activity waste. 22. Key drivers for this review are: the national disposal site near the village of Drigg in Cumbria does not have sufficient capacity to meet future forecasts of LLW arisings. Its disposal authorisation is under review by the EA; the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) must have the necessary routes available for the long-term management of LLW if it is to progress its decommissioning and clean-up of the UK s publicly owned civil nuclear sites; the increasing difficulty of finding small-scale treatment and disposal routes (in particular incineration and landfill) for the least radioactive LLW which are very important for non-nuclear industry users of radioactive materials (such as hospitals, research establishments, and the oil and gas industry). 23. Unlike higher activity wastes, the key issue for this review is how best to use the range of options that are already available for the long-term management of LLW in order to meet forecast future demand. 24. To help produce a Government consultation on future policy for the long-term management of LLW, including a draft policy statement, two national stakeholder workshops were held in Manchester, in April and October Around 60 interested organisations including national and local government bodies, waste producers, waste facility operators, regulatory bodies and various other non-government organisations with potential interests were represented at these workshops. The first workshop considered the issues associated with the long-term management of LLW and the second an initial draft of the Government s proposed consultation material and policy statement. The workshop discussions were facilitated by a team led by University College, London. Details of the workshops can be found on the website In light of the workshops, Government proposes to issue its LLW management policy consultation in the first part of 2006, with a view to assessing the responses and issuing its future policy statement by around the time CoRWM delivers its recommendation in July Key aims of the policy are to allow greater flexibility in the way in which LLW can be managed, to place greater emphasis on the minimisation of LLW arisings, to clarify the 5

6 future role of the NDA in facility provision, and to seek improvements in the arrangements for disposal of non-nuclear industry LLW. 26. Appropriate coordination of the CoRWM and LLW management policy review initiatives is being achieved through the Radioactive Waste Policy (RWPG, see paragraph 44 below). Managing spent sealed sources 27. The MRWS consultation document discussed arrangements for improving the handling of spent sealed radioactive sources. This issue was given added impetus by the events of 11 September 2001 and the issue of EU Directive 2003/122 Euratom on the control of high activity sealed sources and orphan sources (the HASS Directive)(Ref 6). 28. The HASS Regulations (Ref 7) came into force on 20 October 2005 and are designed to prevent exposure to radiation arising from the inadequate control of high activity radioactive sources. Member States must also ensure arrangements are in place for recovering orphan sources (sources not under regulatory control). 29. The HASS Regulations include a requirement for holders of high activity sources to make arrangements, including financial provision, for the safe management of those sources when they become disused. They also provide a vehicle for delivery of the security objectives developed by the National Counter Terrorism and Security Office. 30. In the past, high costs of disposal encouraged holders to retain disused sources on their premises, sometimes insufficiently secure facilities. During the course of 2005 a subsidised collection of surplus sources was undertaken across the UK. This will continue in A number of sources have been recycled whilst others have been taken into secure storage. Other progress during 2005 Nuclear Decommissioning Authority 31. The NDA, established under the Energy Act 2004, came into being on 1 April The reviews of decommissioning and substitution policy, completed under the MRWS programme during the course of 2004 (see the third report for 2004, Ref 2), provide important policy backdrop to the NDA s work. 6

7 Nirex 32. Also from 1 April 2005, UK Nirex Ltd was taken into Government ownership through the creation of a Company Limited by Guarantee Nirex CLG Ltd jointly owned by Defra and DTI. Nirex CLG Ltd took over ownership of all UK Nirex Ltd shares from the nuclear industry. 33. This change of ownership honoured statements made to Parliament in July 2003 (to make UK Nirex Ltd independent of industry and under greater Government control) and July 2004 (to establish a Government-owned Company Limited by Guarantee to hold its shares) (Refs 8 and 9). The longer-term future of UK Nirex Ltd will be decided in light of CoRWM s recommendation and the Government policy decisions taken in light of it. 34. January 2005 brought the introduction of new legislation on access to information, and the policy area of radioactive waste management is covered by both the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and corresponding provisions in Scotland. There were several requests in the first half of 2005 for publication of the historic list of sites identified by Nirex during the consideration in the 1980 s for an ILW waste repository. In June 2005 following consultation with Government and local authorities, Nirex published the full list of all sites on the historic list. Management and regulation of wastes 35. The third report, for 2004 (Ref 2), recorded that the improved arrangements for the regulation and storage of ILW on nuclear sites involving appropriate coordination between the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the environment agencies and Nirex came into operation on 1 January The third report noted that the EA had established a Nuclear Waste Assessment Team (NWAT) during the course of 2004 to provide it with the capability to assess safety cases submitted by nuclear operators, and that SEPA was in the process of recruiting resources for this purpose. During the course of 2005, SEPA completed this recruitment exercise. 37. As part of the new arrangements, both the EA and SEPA have signed agreements with Nirex, which allow them to undertake regulatory scrutiny of the Nirex Letter of Compliance (LoC) arrangements. The EA and SEPA are working in collaboration to ensure 7

8 that efforts involved in the regulatory scrutiny are complementary and that work is not duplicated. 38. In March 2005, the HSE, EA and SEPA issued Guidance to Industry on the operation of the revised arrangements (Ref 10). 39. Based on the success of the improved regulatory arrangements with HSE and the environment agencies, Nirex and the Department for Transport (DfT) initiated discussions in 2005 to establish an agreement that would allow the DfT to carry out scrutiny of Nirex s transport safety-related work. Plutonium and Uranium 40. Responsibility for the management of the great majority of the UK s plutonium and uranium stocks passed to the NDA on 1 April The NDA will ensure that nuclear materials such as these are stored safely, securely and without endangering the environment, according to it s statutory duties set out in the Energy Act A new store for plutonium, with improved safety provisions is being built at Sellafield, and is due to be available by The NDA will work with Government to reach decisions on the treatment of plutonium and uranic materials in terms of their strategic value and role, and what proportions might be regarded as waste in future. The NDA will provide advice, as necessary and appropriate, to the Government s energy policy review. 42. CoRWM s recommendation will include advice on the manner in which any proportions of plutonium and uranium which either are or might come to be regarded as waste in future should be managed in the long term. The 2004 UK Radioactive Waste Management Inventory 43. The 2004 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory, with a stock date of 1 April 2004, was complete and ready for publication by the end of (Note: it was subsequently published in January 2006). Planning for the 2007 Inventory has commenced. Co-ordination of radioactive waste management policy activities 8

9 44. Appropriate co-ordination of radioactive waste management policy activities, including those associated with the MRWS programme, continues to be the responsibility of the Radioactive Waste Policy Group (RWPG) described in last year s progress report. RWPG is a national government committee, meeting 3-4 times a year, and operating on the basis of correspondence in the interim, on which UK Government departments, devolved administrations and the main radioactive waste management regulatory bodies (HSE and the environment agencies) are represented. References 1. Managing Radioactive Waste Safely: Proposals for Developing a Policy for Managing Solid Radioactive Waste in the UK, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs et al, September Managing Radioactive Waste Safely: 2004 Progress Report to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, January The Decommissioning of the UK Nuclear Industry s Facilities, Department of Trade and Industry, September Intermediate Level Waste Substitution, Department of Trade and Industry, December Answer by the Minister of State for the Environment, Elliot Morley, to a Parliamentary Question from Llew Smith MP on 18 March Council Directive 2003/122/Euratom of 22 December 2003 on the Control of High- Activity Sealed Radioactive Sources and Orphan Sources, Official Journal of the European Union L346/57, 31 December The High-Activity Sealed Radioactive Sources and Orphan Sources Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 2686), the Stationery Office Ltd, October Answer by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett, to a Parliamentary Question from Rachel Squire MP on16 July

10 9. Statement to the House of Commons by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Margaret Beckett, on 21 July Conditioning of Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste on Nuclear Licensed Sites: Guidance to Industry, Health and Safety Executive et al, March selcom2.doc 10