Publication Laka-library:
Advice on The Interim Report of the High Level Waste and Spent Fuel Disposal Research Project (1998)
| Author | RWMAC |
| Date | November 1998 |
| Classification | 2.05.4.10/51 (UNITED KINGDOM - WASTE - NIREX/NDA DECOMMISIONING) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 In a letter to the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) Chairman, Sir Gordon Beveridge, dated 29 January 1998, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Michael Meacher, requested a committee review of the interim report of the High Level Waste and Spent Fuel Disposal Research Strategy Project (hereafter the Interim Report). This document sets out the RWMAC response to that request. 2. THE HIGH LEVEL WASTE AND SPENT FUEL DISPOSAL RESEARCH STRATEGY PROJECT 2.1 The High Level Waste and Spent Fuel Disposal Research Strategy Project was set up as a result of a commitment given in the 1995 White Paper, "Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy: Final Conclusions" (Cm2919). 2.2 This White Paper stated that the UK Government at that time considered disposal to geological formations on land to be the favoured option for the long-term management of vitrified high level waste (HLW) once it had been allowed to cool. It also stated that spent nuclear fuel could be disposed of similarly, provided that the design of the disposal facility took due account of the risk of a criticality incident. Against this background the White Paper undertook to put in hand the development of a research strategy that would support development of an HLW and spent fuel disposal facility. 2.3 The main technical aspects of developing the strategy for delivery of a repository, probably sometime around the middle of the next century, were covered by a Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) research contract. Intention to undertake the work was first announced in the Official Journal of the European Communities in July 1995 and the contract was eventually won, following competitive tender, by QuantiSci in March 1997. The project had a scheduled duration of24 months, until March 1999. 2.4 A summary of the work requirement statement for the project is at Annex A. This divides the project into two stages. The output of Stage 1 is a repository development plan specified in terms of a series of key decision milestones and the questions that will need to be answered through appropriate research at each milestone. At this point of the project the timescale for repository development will be left undefined for determination later in the project. Stage 2 of the work is to look at the questions identified and assess the extent to which they are likely to be answered by past or ongoing research, and thereby identify the additional research that is likely to be necessary. At this stage, broad estimates of likely timescales are to be associated with completion of this additionally required research. A fuller breakdown of the High Level Waste and Spent Fuel Disposal Research Strategy Project, in terms of the tasks to be undertaken under its various stages, is given in Annex B.
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