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Energy: Radioactive Waste Management

My Lords, perhaps I may advise the Minister that my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith is absolutely right about the time span of 30 years. Some 27 years ago I had ministerial responsibility in this area, and if one is inclined to be cynical, one would say that the only thing which has changed is that the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) has become CoRWM. I inherited a situation in which the previous Labour Government’s attempts to develop geological storage had failed in the face of strong public opposition in several different places. I formed the view then that interim storage, as it is described in this paper, was much the most likely outcome and that it would be built in places which had a strong economic interest in the future of the nuclear industry. Moreover, vitrification would be a good way of making safe these materials and would therefore be the most likely process. Is the position of the Government still the one recommended I think by the committee of the noble Lord, Lord Flowers, that there should be no more nuclear power plants before we have an established means of nuclear waste disposal? Is that still the position and is it the reason for the Statement today? Does it open up the opportunity to introduce more nuclear power provision, which I certainly support? However, I should say that the one very sensible statement made in the longer document to which the Minister referred is that local authorities should plan for interim storage to last for at least 100 years.