House of Lords Grand Committee take note of Draft National Policy Statement for Geological Disposal Infrastructure

The Rt Hon Lord Henley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State BEIS, moved a motion to take note of the Draft National Policy Statement for Geological Disposal Infrastructure. The Minister noted that the draft National Policy Statement had been scrutinised by the BEIS Select Committee and the Committee’s report and recommendations published on 31 July 2018, and confirmed that BEIS are considering the responses to the consultation on working with communities and aim to publish a final policy “in the autumn”.

The debate as recorded by Hansard is available here.

BEIS Select Committee publish report on the Draft National Policy Statement for Geological Disposal Infrastructure

The BEIS Select Committee today published its report on the Draft National Policy Statement for Geological Disposal Infrastructure.

The Committee conclude that the Draft National Policy Statement is fit for purpose and contains adequate guidance and details needed for the developer, the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State to put forward and make recommendations on development consent orders. Subject to some caveats (below) the Committee support the case that the final NPS be brought before Parliament for approval.

The report focuses on four issues that were raised during the inquiry and addressed in the evidence session on 10 July.

  • National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

    The Committee decided against adding an exclusionary criterion for National Parks and AONBs as they conclude that safety should prevail over environmental concerns and believe that existing planning legislation and the NPS contain sufficient safeguards against intrusive developments and environmental damage in National Parks and AONBs. The report does agree however that major developments should not be allowed in designated areas except under exceptional circumstances.

  • disposal of waste (in the GDF) from new nuclear build

    The Committee conclude that any long-term waste management strategy should include waste from new nuclear as all waste generated from nuclear should be disposed of safely. Nevertheless, the Government must clarify in the NPS the level of uncertainty regarding the inventory of radioactive wastes and materials to be stored in the GDF, especially regarding levels of radioactivity of new nuclear waste.

  • the place of local community consent in the NPS

    The Committee supports the Government’s decision to keep the community consent process separate from the NPS but we recommend that the Government should clarify the hierarchy between development consent orders and community consent in the NPS in a way that is accessible to a lay audience so as to promote engagement by prospective communities.

  • how the NPS is linked to the Industrial Strategy to deliver socioeconomic benefits

    The Committee finds the link between the NPS and the Industrial Strategy to be spurious and the emphasis on socioeconomic benefits to the host community insufficient. In order to be consistent with the Industrial Strategy, the Government should ensure that the NPS places stronger requirements on the developer to establish robust local skills partnerships with the host community and to rely on local employment and sourcing opportunities. The Secretary of State should also favour developments that demonstrate they can deliver strong socioeconomic to host communities.

The report concludes that overall, and with the caveats outlined above, the Committee is satisfied that the NPS provides the right level of guidance to the decision-maker on the type of geological disposal infrastructure that will be suitable for England’s legacy and future higher activity radioactive waste. Provided that the Government takes into account the recommendations, the Committee supports the case for the final NPS to be brought forward and approved by Parliament.

International Summer School on Decommissioning and Waste Management

Very pleased to be supporting the International Summer School on Decommissioning and Waste Management organised by the EC Joint Research Council and held at their Ispra site in Italy. The Summer School is aimed at masters degree level students and provides them with the opportunity to explore and discuss some of the challenges facing the decommissioning and waste management community. 

I was invited as one of the expert speakers within the session on "what to do with waste in the long term?"

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BEIS Select Committee meets and takes oral evidence

The BEIS Select Committee continues its inquiry into the draft guidance on the determination of radioactive waste disposal planning applications and today takes oral evidence from three witness panels:

Panel I -  Philip Matthews, Executive Director, Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum; Ruth Bradshaw, Policy and Research Manager, Campaign for National Parks; Dr Pauleen Lane, Group Manager National Infrastructure, Planning Inspectorate.

Panel II - Bruce McKirdy, Managing Director, Radioactive Waste Management; Stephen Tromans QC, Member, Committee on Radioactive Waste Management; Professor Andrew Blowers, Co-Chair, NGO Forum and Chair, Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group.

Panel III -  Richard Harrington MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Minister for Business and Industry, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Stephen Speed, Director, Nuclear, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Umran Nazir, Deputy Director, Decommissioning, Radioactive Materials and Geological Disposal Programme, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The record of the hearing is available here

IAEA publish update to Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material

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The IAEA has published a revision to Specific Safety Requirements No. SSR-6 Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material. These are international model regulations that will eventually be adopted into UK legislation covering all aspects of radiological safety in transport, whether it be by road, rail, sea, inland waterway or air. Current legislation is based on the previous version issued in 2012.

There are a number of detailed changes in the revised issue but two in particular will be significant for the future management of radioactive wastes.

New material category - SCO-III

The transport regulations specify different packaging criteria depending upon the form of the material proposed for transport. One such category is Surface Contaminated Objects (SCO) - a solid object that is not itself radioactive but which has radioactive material distributed on its surface. The SCO provisions have been extended to include a new category SCO-III. In addition to meeting the general requirements for SCO designation, SCO-III objects are defined in para 413(c) as a large solid object that is too large to be transported in the type of package described in SSR-6. The section describes detailed criteria to be met regarding sealing of openings, inside being as dry as practicable and limits on contamination levels on external and inaccessible areas. This categorisation might be applicable to transport of large objects such as power station heat-exchangers, or other reactor components which arise as waste during decommissioning operations and which need to be transported e.g. to a processing plant or disposal facility.

Shipment after a period of storage

It is not uncommon for radioactive wastes to be conditioned and packaged into containers that provide both transport and disposal functions. The half-height freight container used for packaging of low level waste for disposal to the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) is an example. A similar approach has also been used for some intermediate level wastes but without a disposal route, such wastes have to be stored pending the provision of a GDF. The fact that transport packages may be manufactured and then stored prior to transport is now explicitly recognised within SSR-6 with the provision of additional requirements detailed in para 503(e):

For packages intended to be used for shipment after storage, it shall be ensured that all packaging components and radioactive contents have been maintained during storage in a manner such that all the requirements specified in the relevant provisions of these Regulations and in the applicable certificates of approval have been fulfilled.

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee launch inquiry into draft guidance for determination of geological disposal planning applications

The BEIS Select Committee has today launched an inquiry to examine the draft guidance on the determination of radioactive waste disposal planning applications i.e. the draft National Policy Statement for geological disposal infrastructure that was issued for consultation on 25 January 2018.

The Committee has invited written submissions - deadline 15 June 2018.