RWMAC's Advice to Ministers on the Radioactive Waste Implications of Reprocessing

1. INTRODUCTION

On 23 June 1999, the Minister for the Environment, Michael Meacher, wrote to the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) Chairman, Professor Charles Curtis, setting out the areas of work that the Government wished the Committee to undertake for its 1999-2000 work programme. One of the items requested was a review of the radioactive waste implications of nuclear spent fuel reprocessing. This report sets out the RWMAC’s response to that request.

The report identifies the quantity of radioactive material arisings, including both solid arisings and liquid and gaseous discharges, that would be produced under various future reprocessing scenarios. It goes on to consider the management, radiological and potential social and political implications of these scenarios and arisings. Overall, the Committee sees the main objective of its review as that of assisting Government to make more informed decisions in respect of its future radioactive waste management policy, which is currently under review.