NucNet latest: UK sets up directorate to oversee repository programme

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A new organisation has been set up in the UK to oversee the implementation of a proposed deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste, it has been announced. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said on 2 April 2007 that the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) would “design and build” an organisation to deliver a safe and environmentally sound geological disposal solution. It said the RWMD has been established within the NDA and will be led by the NDA’s former engineering director Richard Waite. It is likely that the new organisation will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the NDA. Once a suitable repository site has been chosen, the RWMD will develop into the site licence company. But the NDA said “considerable future dialogue” with the government and regulators will have to take place before this step is taken. The NDA also said public consultation on the framework for implementing geological disposal would begin this summer. The UK government announced in October 2006 that high-level radioactive waste will be managed in the long term through geological disposal. The decision followed a recommendation by the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), an independent government advisory committee that in July 2006 recommended deep geological disposal as the best option for the long-term management of the UK’s high-level radioactive waste. The government said the NDA would take responsibility for securing geological disposal and would have “clear responsibilities and accountabilities”. The NDA was set up in April 2005, under the Energy Act 2004, to manage the UK’s nuclear legacy. The NDA also confirmed this week that its integration with the UK’s Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Management Executive (Nirex) had been completed. It said most Nirex staff have been transferred to the NDA. The NDA is now performing functions previously undertaken by Nirex. Nirex was set up in 1982 to research, develop and operate radioactive waste disposal facilities on behalf of the UK’s nuclear power industry. It became a limited company in 1985. As reported by David Dalton.

 

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