The UK Government has clear policies for the safe and secure short and long–term management of radioactive waste.

The UK Government published a Policy Statement for the management of Low Level Waste (LLW) in 2007. In accordance with it an updated UK Nuclear Industry LLW Strategy was published by DECC in February 2016. It requires the application of the waste management hierarchy. It means disposal of LLW should be a last resort and waste avoidance, recycling and reuse of waste should be considered first. This will preserve capacity in the UK’s national LLW repository in West Cumbria so it can continue to dispose of the highest priority LLW only.

The policy for higher activity waste is contained in the Implementing Geological Disposal White Paper published by DECC in 2014. The policy is that higher activity waste from nuclear facilities will be held in safe and secure interim storage facilities on nuclear licensed sites until a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) is available for final disposal.

The 2014 Implementing Geological Disposal White Paper set out three initial actions for Government and the developer (Radioactive Waste Management) to provide greater clarity on issues such as geology, development impacts and community representation.

In April 2016 Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) published National Geological Screening Guidance which sets out how they intend to bring together, present and provide authoritative and existing information on UK geology relevant to the long term safety of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).

RWM are applying this Guidance and have started gathering existing information on the UK’s geology which will help communities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland better understand their potential suitability to host a GDF. It will not, however, determine if a particular location, region or area can definitively host a GDF.

Formal engagement between the developer and potential host communities will start in 2017 once the Government and RWM have delivered the initial actions, including the national geological screening outputs. Good progress is being made in the short term with a clear long term goal of delivering safe and secure final disposal of all our radioactive waste.

Government and licensees take very seriously the need to decommission legacy facilities, including those at Sellafield. This work is underpinned by periodic safety reviews, which are assessed by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). In addition to this, nuclear operators have a legal obligation under the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001 (REPPIR) to identify, evaluate and assess their hazards and risks, which enables the ONR to determine the off-site emergency planning area in line with its assessment principles:

http://www.onr.org.uk/depz-onr-principles.htm.

It is a national priority to reduce the hazard and risk at Sellafield in a safe and timely manner and progress in addressing the hazards at Sellafield is kept under frequent review. The actual detail of the programmes and the actions to maintain safety, are matters between Sellafield Ltd. as the site licence company and ONR as the independent nuclear regulator. Sellafield is ONR’s highest regulatory priority and receives a significantly enhanced level of regulatory attention.

Security at Sellafield is specifically designed to address a wide range of credible threats, with measures including perimeter and internal physical barriers, detection and surveillance technologies and an armed response provided by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. In line with internationally established principle of continuous improvement, the Sellafield site has seen a series of security enhancements over the last few years to ensure security remains robust.

As part of its agreed strategy, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is investigating options for waste storage, including whether to consolidate the wastes that it owns to reduce the number of existing storage locations. Other waste owners are also being considered. This work has already resulted in the publication of several studies.

In respect of the waste from any new nuclear power stations, it is currently anticipated that this waste will be held in safe and secure interim storage on the power station site until it can be disposed of. The Nuclear National Policy Statement, published in June 2011, set out the results of a strategic siting assessment designed to identify sites in England and Wales that are potentially suitable for the deployment of new nuclear power stations by the end of 2025.

A robust security regulatory framework is in place across the industry, with compliance and enforcement overseen by the independent Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which operates under the established principle of continuous improvement.