Committee recommends two-stage plan to store UK radwaste

London (Platts)--28Apr2006

A two-stage plan to store UK radwaste prior to its underground disposal was
recommended Apr 27 by the country's Committee on Radioactive Waste Management,
or Corwm.

The government formed the committee in November 2003 to provide a solution to
managing the country's eventual 470,000 cubic meters of high- and
intermediate-level radioactive wastes. Corwm said it recognized the likely
difficulty in reaching an early agreement to go ahead with deep geological
disposal because of ethical and social concerns.

Corwm Chairman Gordon MacKerron told a press conference in Brighton that it
was likely to be "at least several decades" before such a facility could be
developed and fully implemented. Such a timeframe could easily extend into
future generations, he said, if further technical and community concerns
emerge. "So, because of these kinds of uncertainties, we are also recommending
robust interim storage, which will need to last for many decades," he said.
"This would serve as a precursor to what we think is the best end point, which
is deep disposal" several hundred meters underground, he said.

Corwm's two-stage recommendation is still in draft form. Corwm intends to get
the finalized version to the government by the end of July, it said.

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