The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management was asked by Government in 2003 to make recommendations for the long-term management of the UK’s higher activity wastes that would both protect the public and the environment, and inspire public confidence. To do this, we have combined a technical assessment of options with ethical considerations, examination of overseas experience and a wide-ranging programme of engagement both with the public and with interested parties (stakeholders). I am happy to present our recommendations in the pages that follow.

CoRWM’s remit is to provide independent scrutiny and advice to Government on the long-term management, including storage and disposal, of radioactive wastes and materials that may be declared to be wastes. This is the first of three reports to be produced in 2009 that describes the results of the Committee’s scrutiny work in 2008 and the first part of 2009 and provides advice to Government.

This is the seventh CoRWM Annual Report. It summarises the outcomes of CoRWM’s scrutiny and advice work during the year. It also contains the Committee’s views on the current status of arrangements and plans for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive wastes in the UK. All the Committee Members have contributed to this Report and I am grateful to Marion Hill and the Secretariat for all their hard work in compiling it.

This is the eighth CoRWM Annual Report. It summarises CoRWM’s scrutiny and advice for the financial year ending on 31 March 2012. It also contains the Committee’s views on the status of arrangements and plans for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive wastes in the UK at June 2012.

The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) has carried out an assessment of the generic Disposal System Safety Case (gDSSC) published by the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in February 2011. The assessment covered the whole suite of gDSSC documents, and related RWMD reports on research and development (R&D) and site characterisation.

The report begins with a consideration of the factors which have led to a growth in the use of dialogue processes, a clarification of key concepts and a classification of dialogue processes. A description of recent and current activities in Europe and North America is followed by discussion of the relationship of processes and contexts. This then leads to an identification of the key aims and evaluation criteria which will be used in the design of dialogue processes to be conducted in subsequent phases of the project.

This paper is a first consideration of the MRWS White Paper on the framework for geological disposal. It is based primarily on discussions in Working Group D on July 21 2008 but also draws on CoRWM’s informal comments on the draft White Paper, on CoRWM’s recommendations as reported in 2006 and on an overview of the responses to the consultation that preceded the White Paper. There have been few opportunities, as yet, to discuss the White Paper through the CoRWM PSE process.

This paper summarises CoRWM’s understanding of:<br><br>The roles and responsibilities of the organisations that are involved in the management of radioactive waste, <br>Decision-making on Government policy, <br>Decision-making on the governance of the NDA, <br>Decision-making on waste conditioning, packaging and storage and <br>Decision-making in the implementation of geological disposal.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is studying a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for a permanent underground repository for highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear reactors, but delays have pushed back the facility’s opening date to 2010 at the earliest. In the meantime, spent fuel is accumulating at U.S. nuclear plant sites at the rate of about 2,000 metric tons per year. Major options for managing those growing quantities of nuclear spent fuel include continued storage at reactors, construction of a DOE interim storage site near Yucca Mountain, and licensing of private storage facilities.

The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership was set up to consider the issues that would be involved in taking part in a search to see if there is anywhere in the Allerdale and/or Copeland areas suitable for a repository for higher activity radioactive waste.<br/>Over the last three years we have looked at reports and literature, heard from experts in the field, commissioned independent research and invited reviews by independent experts.