The Environment Agency and Office for Nuclear Regulation have completed a biennial review of their scrutiny of our work relating to the geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste.
The regulators’ ongoing review of our work ensures that they remain fully aware of how our programmes are developing and are able to offer advice and comment where appropriate. This gives us confidence that our work and plans are consistent with regulatory requirements and expectations.
Findings
The regulators found that:
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we have developed a good understanding of the permissions framework and the associated regulatory submissions required to support environmental permitting of geological disposal
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we have made satisfactory progress in addressing the regulators’ recommendations in their review of our 2010 generic Disposal System Safety Case
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our disposability assessment and Letter of Compliance process to be robust
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we are progressing our research and development (R&D) in areas we identified as high priority
Peter Lock, our Health, Safety, Security, Environment and Quality Director, said:
We welcome this biennial report on the regulators’ scrutiny of our work.
The scrutiny of our work, and the identification of areas where we can make improvements, helps us ensure that any future applications we submit for a geological disposal facility take full account of the permitting and licensing requirements.
It also helps ensure that the advice we provide to waste producers, about how they should package their radioactive waste for future geological disposal, is appropriate.