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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what estimate she has made of the amount of (a) processed and (b) unprocessed nuclear waste that will be stored in the UK in (i) one year, (ii) three years' and (iii) five years' time; and if she will make a statement; [187736] (2) how much (a) processed and (b) unprocessed nuclear waste is being stored in the UK; at which locations it is being stored; and from where the waste originated. [187738] Mr. Morley: I have been asked to reply. An inventory of the radioactive waste currently held, and forecast to be held in the future, in the UK is compiled periodically (normally every three years) by my department and United Kingdom Nirex Limited (Nirex). This inventory statement, known as the UK Radioactive Waste Inventory, is a published document and it gives details of the waste in terms of volume, physical characteristics and chemical composition. It also provides information on the amounts of waste which are currently held in conditioned and unconditioned form, who is responsible for its management, and where it is stored. There are over 30 sites at which waste is stored in the UK, the major site being Sellafield. Details of where waste originated from is not contained in the Inventory, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. In general the waste currently held on sites is that which has arisen at the site, but there have been movements between sites over the years. The last fully compiled Inventory, published in October 2002, is for a stock date (i.e data collection date) of 1 April 2001. Work to compile the next Inventory for a stock date of 1 April 2004 is currently ongoing, and the results will be published in 2005. Figures for the stocks of UK radioactive waste given in the 2001 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory are: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Stocks (m3) HLW ILW LLW 1 Not yet conditioned 1,619 64,227 14,425 Already conditioned 342 11,186 303 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Most LLW is usually promptly disposed of to the Drigg disposal facility. Approximate estimates of future arisings derived from the 2001 Inventory, in terms of fully conditioned volumes, are: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Estimated conditioned volume of waste (m3) HLW ILW LLW 1 April 2001 764 74,500 15,900 1 April 20041 964 84,900 54,200 1 April 20071 1,160 96,000 87,000 1 April 20091 1,270 103,000 107,000 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Approximate estimates derived from 2001 Inventory figures. Definitive 2004 figures will be provided by the 2004 Inventory results.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c124-5W; 187736;187738

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Radioactive waste Location Storage Waste management

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk