Welsh Government asks for views on its radioactive waste disposal policy
30 Apr 2014 02:42 PM
The Welsh Government is
asking for views on its policy for the disposal of higher activity radioactive
waste.
The Minister for Natural
Resources, Alun Davies is publishing a call for evidence on the disposal
of higher activity radioactive waste, and is seeking views on the current Welsh
Government policy and on the various options it might consider in the
future.
The Welsh Government is required
by the EU to report its policy for the safe and responsible management of
radioactive waste by summer 2015. Ahead of this date the Welsh Government is
keen to ensure that its policy remains relevant and reflects changing
circumstances.
The UK has accumulated a
substantial amount of higher activity radioactive waste over the last 50 years
following military nuclear programmes, electricity generation in nuclear power
stations and the use of radioactive materials in industry, medicine and
research.
Further to this, the decision by
the UK Government to build a new generation of nuclear power stations will
result in additional volumes of radioactive waste that will need to be safely
disposed of.
While the UK Government has
supported a policy of geological disposal for the management of radioactive
waste since 2008, until now the Welsh Government has neither supported nor
opposed this policy.
The Welsh Government is now
seeking views on its radioactive waste disposal policy to ensure it remains
relevant and reflects changing circumstances.
However the Minister for Natural
Resources has emphasised that no decision to change policy has yet been made.
He also stressed that any change in policy would not necessarily result in a
disposal facility being built in Wales or any indeed any other part of the
UK.
The building of any disposal
facility would be dependent on a host community voluntarily coming forward and
on the successful conclusion of discussions with that community which could
last up to a decade. Even with the current Welsh Government policy a
community in Wales could seek discussions about potentially hosting a
geological disposal facility.
Plans for any potential disposal
facility in Wales would also depend on the approval of a safety case by Natural
Resources Wales and the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
Alun Davies
said:
“This call for evidence on
the safe management of radioactive waste will stimulate an important debate and
I would urge anyone with a view to feed into the process.
“Once the call for
evidence is complete, I will make a decision on whether a full policy review is
required. Any such review would be done in an open and transparent way and will
involve a thorough consultation process.
"I want to reassure people
that even if we did decide to review our policy for the disposal of radioactive
waste this would not necessarily result in radioactive waste being disposed of
in Wales or indeed any other part of the UK. Any future disposal facility
would depend on a host community voluntarily coming
forward."
As part of the call for evidence
respondents are being asked whether Welsh Government should review its current
policy on higher activity radioactive waste, and if so whether disposal options
should be limited to geological disposal or widened out to include other
options.
Links
Review
on disposing of Higher Activity Radioactive Waste