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RWMAC's Advice to Government on:
Establishing Consensus on the Results of Science Programmes into the Disposal of Radioactive Waste

Press Release:
13 May 1999

The Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMAC) today publishes advice* which suggests that scientific consensus needs to be linked to the achievement of a wider social consensus in deciding how best to manage the United Kingdom's radioactive waste over the longer term. This, the Committee suggests, would represent a departure from the decide-announce-defend approach that has tended to characterise decision-making in this area in the past.

Set in terms of the principles that the Committee believes should be applied in deciding future policy and its implementation, the advice concludes that, while the science must be the key factor in guiding future decisions, it must be linked to a broader social agreement on the way to proceed. Consensus in this context means the achievement of a sufficient concurrence of view at various stages to legitimise a decision to proceed with a particular course of action.

The guiding principles should be: openness; early involvement of stakeholders; a deliberative and accessible process; commitment to a broad and participative peer review; and provision of adequate time for the resolution of issues. What is also particularly important in deciding the appropriate way forward, is that the merits and risks of all the waste management options are evaluated. Waste already exists: to do nothing is not an option.

The advice was originally sought following concerns that the proceedings of the Nirex RCF Inquiry appeared to have revealed disagreement in the scientific community's views sufficient to cast doubts that the evidence submitted to the Inquiry was adequate to sustain reliable scientific interpretation**. Contemplation of this issue inevitably drew the RWMAC into considering the role of science in policy formulation and decision-making more generally.

A fundamental difficulty lies in scientific uncertainty and the potential risk from radioactivity in wastes which must be managed over long timescales in order for decay to take place to safe levels. The key issue in any debate will revolve around the reliability of the answers provided by science and the level of risk that is acceptable.

The RWMAC believes that the questions that science is required to answer at each stage of the decision making process must be identified at the outset. The answers must not only be shown to satisfy adequately the scientific community but also society more generally. A measured process, taken stage by stage, will take time but is more likely to achieve confidence than a hurried attempt to reach predetermined solutions. Speaking of the report, the Chairman of the RWMAC Working Group responsible for its production - Professor Andrew Blowers of the Open University - said:

"This advice is timely given that the Government is currently considering its future policy in the light of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology report on the Management of Nuclear Waste. I believe our advice with its emphasis on taking into account wider societal views indicates a way forward from the impasse currently facing radioactive waste management.

While science must provide the basis for safe solutions the decisions cannot rest with scientists alone. Radioactive waste is a problem for society as a whole. The debate on the options for the UK's radioactive waste management must be much more open and embrace the wider community.

Our report outlines a fundamental shift in the way decisions are taken. We have set out the principles we believe should be applied in the future if an acceptable solution is to be agreed. I hope the Government will act upon this in developing its future policies and arrangements."

* The full title of the RWMAC's advice to Ministers is 'The Establishment of Scientific Consensus on the Interpretation and Significance of the Results of Science Programmes into Radioactive Waste Disposal'.

** In March 1997, following a local public inquiry, the then Secretary of State for the Environment, John Gummer, rejected an appeal by UK Nirex Ltd against refusal by Cumbria County Council of planning permission for a Rock Characterisation Facility (RCF) to be constructed near the Sellafield nuclear plant. The RCF would have been used for in-situ testing of the suitability of the site for a possible underground repository for the disposal of radioactive waste.

Notes to Editors

The independent Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee was set up in response to a recommendation of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's Sixth Report on Nuclear Power and the Environment. Its terms of reference are:

"To advise the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, and the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales on the technical and environmental implications of major issues concerning the development and implementation of an overall policy for all aspects of the management of civil radioactive waste, including research and development; and on any such matters referred to it by the Secretaries of State."

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