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"GOVERNMENT ACTION NEEDED TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO DOUNREAY'S CLEAN-UP" - INDEPENDENT EXPERTS
Press release
24 September 2001
An independent committee of experts has published the advice it recently gave to the Government on the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's (UKAEA's) proposals for the environmental restoration of its nuclear site at Dounreay in Scotland. The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC), which advises Ministers on the management of radioactive waste, prepared its advice in response to the "Dounreay Site Restoration Plan", setting out UKAEA's strategy for decommissioning Dounreay's nuclear facilities, decontaminating the site, and managing the resulting wastes.
Professor Lynda Warren, Chair of the RWMAC working group which prepared the advice, said:
"We warmly welcome the fact that UKAEA has prepared and published this strategy. It is the first time that the requirements for cleaning up the site have been pulled together into a single co-ordinated work plan.
The approach set out in the plan is, in our view, both comprehensive and coherent. We indicate a number of possible refinements, but, most importantly, note that the difficulties of carrying the plan through should not be underestimated. Responsibility for cleaning up Dounreay is shared between UKAEA and its owners, the UK Government. However, UKAEA itself has only limited real control over delivery of some key objectives of the plan - control of these rests with others, notably the regulators and the local planning authority.
We stress the importance of decisions on Dounreay being taken in light of clear Government policies for managing radioactive waste. The launch last week of the Government consultation "Managing Radioactive Waste Safely" is a first step towards this.
However, the Government needs to look carefully at UKAEA's proposals. Unless it endorses the proposals and establishes a mechanism to ensure that the potential barriers to their delivery can be overcome, the overriding aim of the Dounreay clean-up plan, the removal of radioactive hazards from the site, could be put in jeopardy.
We favour early dialogue with the public and other stakeholders to try to generate wide commitment to the plan. We also advocate the formulation by Government of an Action Plan, which would set out timescale objectives, and identify the actions required on the part of all parties to ensure their delivery."
The Committee's view is that UKAEA has the technical expertise to carry out restoration of the site, which is expected to take 50-60 years. On completion, UKAEA anticipates that the restored site will need to be subject to a much longer period of care and maintenance before unrestricted public access can be guaranteed.
These timescales span the lifetimes of many Governments. RWMAC supports UKAEA's view of the site restoration plan as a "living document" which can take into account uncertainties posed by gaps in Government policy and by regulatory decisions taken well into the future, and is flexible to change as these uncertainties become clearer during the course of the clean-up work. This will pose a considerable challenge - one which emphasises the importance of the current Government committing itself wholeheartedly to the final version of the Dounreay Site Restoration Plan and the financial commitment that this entails. RWMAC believes that the timescales set out in the plan for the decommissioning of the major nuclear facilities need to be kept under regular scrutiny by UKAEA and the regulators in order to avoid unnecessary slippage.
RWMAC believes that UKAEA could usefully consider prioritising projects on the basis of the hazard posed. It is important that substantive and ongoing progress towards the passively safe storage of radioactive waste on the Dounreay site should remain a key focus of the restoration plan.
Notes for editors
RWMAC is the independent body that gives advice to the UK Government on policy and practices relating to the management of civil radioactive wastes. This report is the published version of advice first submitted to Ministers in the Scottish Executive and the Department of Trade and Industry on 27 July 2001.
RWMAC previously published a comprehensive report on radioactive waste management practices at Dounreay in January 1999.
On 12 September 2001, the Government launched a consultation paper on radioactive waste management policy - "Managing Radioactive Waste Safely".
The regulators concerned with operations at Dounreay are the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.
"Passively safe storage" is the holding of radioactive material in a safe form with minimal need for active control systems or human intervention.
The text of the report can be found on the RWMAC website on www.defra.gov.uk/rwmac/index.htm. Copies of the report can be purchased from: Defra Publications, ADMAIL 6000, London SW1A 2XX (08459 556000).
Press Enquiries: 0207 944 6260/6254 - RWMAC Secretariat.
