Radioactive waste progress urged
December 10, 2004
Britain has failed to make firm progress on managing radioactive waste despite fears over security in the wake of 11 September terror attacks.
House of Lords committee expressed dismay at the failure to come up with long-term solutions to the issue.
They criticised instructions to a new advisory body to start with a "blank sheet of paper" despite international consensus on waste disposal.
"We are dismayed by the government's lack of urgency," peers said.
Rapid action?
House of Lords science and technology committee chairman Lord Oxburgh said: "In 1976 the Royal Commission on environmental pollution emphasised the urgent need to find a long-term solution to storing radioactive waste.
"In March 1999 and again in November 2001 this Committee argued the case for rapid action, but still no firm progress has been made, even though the events on 9/11 raise questions of the vulnerability of existing storage facilities.
"We are dismayed by the government's lack of urgency."
He said the UK had generated radioactive waste for more than half a century and still had failed to decide how to deal with it.
Recommendations
"Ministers seem to be using perpetual consultation exercises to put off making the crucial decisions," he added.
Peers came up with a series of recommendations for the new advisory body, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM).
- They should stop considering options already jettisoned elsewhere in the world such as blasting waste into space and focus on various methods of underground storage.
- Peers say CoRWM also appeared to lack relevant scientific and technical expertise to assess the various options for radioactive waste management and extra members should be appointed
- Ministers failed to take adequate advice when the CoRWM was established, failing to consult Defra's Chief Scientific Adviser
- Ministers should prevent further delays in developing a long-term radioactive waste management strategy to be used as an excuse for deferring decisions on the future of nuclear power
But Environment Minister Elliot Morley said there was a danger the Lords select committee was "ignoring the mistakes of the past when there were narrowly based scientific committees and inadequate consultation".
Billions of pounds
He added: "Involvement of the public and being able to account for decisions are an increasing requirement of government.
"The lack of such involvement has been a key contribution to the failure of previous programmes. The old 'decide-announce-defend' approach is unacceptable."
Mr Morley added that solutions to disposing of nuclear waste "cost billions of pound and take decades to implement".
"Taking a little time now to get the decision right represents time and money well spent," he argued.
"We cannot simply rely on what other countries see as the right solution: we must consider, and be able to demonstrate, what is right for the UK."
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