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"NUCLEAR CLEAN-UP: WE HAVE GOT TO GET RESPONSIBILITIES RIGHT" - SAY INDEPENDENT EXPERTS
Press release
1 November 2002
A committee of independent experts has welcomed Government proposals for a new organisation - the Liabilities Management Authority (LMA) - to decommission and clean up some of the UK's older nuclear sites, a programme that will cost billions of pounds of public money. But the experts say that the LMA's use of contractors to manage the sites, including dealing with the resulting radioactive wastes, raises questions of how some important legal responsibilities will be discharged. These arrangements, the Committee stresses, must be carefully thought through.
The Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) provides independent advice to Ministers on management of the UK's radioactive waste. In its Annual Report for 2001-2002, published today, the Committee includes its formal response to the Government's "Managing the Nuclear Legacy" White Paper that sets out the LMA proposals.
The RWMAC Chairman, Professor Charles Curtis of the University of Manchester, said:
"RWMAC welcomes the creation of the LMA as a key step by Government in getting to grips with some of the older nuclear sites such as Sellafield and Dounreay. But creation of a new body, however well intended, is not, by itself, the answer. The need is to establish real drivers and incentives to carry forward historic nuclear site clean up work more rapidly than in the past without compromising safety. Without these drivers to progress, the LMA could become just another layer of bureaucracy.
The Committee's response highlights other important requirements. The LMA must have the skills and resources to manage its contractors in a coherent and effective manner. The potential skills shortage needs to be tackled early. Responsibilities and accountabilities for ensuring safety must be clearly allocated: this is a matter that cannot be left to fall somewhere between the LMA and its contractors. The Government must provide clear policy guidance on the way it wishes the LMA to conduct its business: our response indicates the requirements for doing so, not all of which are currently met.
Lastly, given the large sums of taxpayers' money for which it will be responsible, the LMA must account, in a way that is readily understandable, for the progress it achieves. In this, the commitment to openness and transparency contained in the White Paper is key."
RWMAC was disappointed that the LMA has not been given a remit to deal with some of the historic used radioactive sources that are still held at hospitals and educational establishments because the money for their disposal has not been planned for in NHS and university budgets. As a radioactive waste liability falling to the taxpayer, RWMAC believes that the LMA should have been allocated responsibility for dealing with this problem.
The Annual Report also describes the work that RWMAC has undertaken during the year, and the resulting advice it has to given Ministers. This includes the process by which policy on the long-term management of radioactive wastes should be decided and the standards to which intermediate level radioactive waste should be conditioned, packaged and stored. The Committee also provides comments on a wide range of proposals by the Government and the regulators in relation to protection of the public and the environment from the harmful effects of radioactive waste. In line with RWMAC's policy of openness, all this advice is either set out in full or summarised in the report.
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. The 22nd RWMAC Annual Report incorporates its response to the Government's White Paper "Managing the Nuclear Legacy - a strategy for action", published in July 2002. This sets out the Government's proposals for nuclear clean-up to be funded by the taxpayer, in effect the liabilities of British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
By law, responsibility for the safe operation of nuclear sites rests with site licensees, currently BNFL and UKAEA. This is regulated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE, with the support of the two environment agencies, has called for long-lived radioactive waste to be stored under conditions of "passive safety", without the need for human intervention, until a permanent management route is developed. In RWMAC's view, this will form one of the LMA's responsibilities.
The text of the Annual Report can be found on the RWMAC website. Copies of the report, price £15, can be purchased from: Defra Publications, Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX (08459 556000).
Press Enquiries: 0207 944 6260/6254 (RWMAC secretariat)
