Jan 11 - Datamonitor

A committee of experts backed by the UK government has raised fears that any new fleet of nuclear power stations built in the country could mean a fivefold increase in the amount of highly dangerous radioactive waste being stored.

Corwm, the committee for radioactive waste management, reports that if the UK were to commission a further ten new reactors, this would mean storing an additional 31,900 cubic meters of spent fuel, in addition to the existing 8,150 cubic meters buried at present.

While the committee argues that dealing with such waste should not pose a major technical challenge, it will force the nuclear industry - and perhaps most particularly the UK's nuclear waste management authority Nirex - to confront the issue of finding sufficient space to store the waste, the report cited by the Guardian newspaper says.

Critics of the nuclear industry argue that these findings demolish the myth new reactors will produce waste that is far easier to handle. The nuclear lobby has suggested that the new fleet would add only 10% to the existing waste stockpile, however Corwm's study indicates that this extra volume may well comprise the most hazardous and difficult to treat spent fuel.

Opponents of new nuclear plants believe that the industry is trying to manipulate waste data to present a more favorable picture of the issue in a bid to ensure the government orders a new build program.