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United Kingdom Regulatory Procedures for Radioactive Wastes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

F S Feates  and
H J Richards
F S Feates
Affiliation:
Department of the Environment, 43 Marsham Street, London SW1, England
H J Richards
Affiliation:
Department of the Environment, 43 Marsham Street, London SW1, England
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Abstract

In the United Kingdom the responsibility for radioactive waste management policy lies with the environmental Ministers. The Department of the Environment is also responsible in England for authorisation of all radioactive waste disposal activities and has its own Radiochemical Inspectorate to ensure that government policy is implemented. An independent Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee reports directly to the Secretary of State for the Environment.

Low-level wastes are currently disposed of by shallow burial or to the deep ocean. Sites for the disposal of intermediate-level wastes are being sought as a matter of urgency and heat-emitting, reprocessing wastes will be stored on the surface for at least fifty years. The rationale of this policy is explained.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 15: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI , 1982 , 399
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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References

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