2474 WG D: MRWS progress report – November 08 1. Author Mark ...

2474
WG D: MRWS progress report – November 08
1. Author Mark Dutton
2. Date October 2008
3. Title / subject WG D on MRWS programme report to Nov. Plenary
4. Status DRAFT 3
5. Recipients: WG D; web publication
6. When commissioned: Standard practice
7. Confidentiality none
8. Document number: 2474
Report of Progress
Meetings of the Group
1. The Group met on 16 th September to discuss the implementation of its work
programme over the following seven weeks. The note of this meeting is Document
2452.
Task 1.2: Scrutinise NDA/regulators proposals for review of standards and
operation of the ‘letter of compliance’ process
2. Members of Working Groups D, B and C held a meeting with the Technical
Department of the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate (RWMD) of the NDA
on 6 th October. RWMD answered a number of questions posed by CoRWM on the
letter of compliance process, waste package specifications and on the failure and
remediation of waste packages. RWMD will produce a document containing their
answers. The note of the meeting will be Document 2459.
3. As agreed at the September Plenary, the reporting of this task will be brought
forward and included in the Interim Storage Report.
Task 3.2: Assess whether substantive issues have been addressed in the White
Paper
4. Following the discussion of the paper (Document 2431) by Lynda Warren at the
September Plenary, potential advice on issues that the Group has identified as
arising from the White Paper will be discussed at its meeting in November.
Task 3.4: Scrutinise local government awareness of and reactions to the invitation
for communities to express an interest in hosting a geological disposal facility
5. A paper that summarises the information that CoRWM has on the response of local
government to the invitation and the processes that were followed will be presented
in a paper (document 2446a) by John Rennilson.
6. The Committee will meet Government to discuss arising issues in early November.
Doc.2474 – Working group D (MRWS) progress report to November, 2008 Plenary Page 1 of 4

7. The third meeting with NuLeAF was held on 29 th October. A note of the meeting will
be produced in due course.
Copeland Borough Council
8. Mark Dutton has been invited by Copeland Borough Council to speak to the Shadow
Siting Partnership on the working of partnership arrangements abroad. The event will
take place on 18 November. Brian Clark has been invited by the Leader of the
council to observe and scrutinize the event.
Allerdale Borough Council
9. Brian Clark and Mark Dutton attended an event on 21 st October that was organised
by Allerdale Borough Council to brief Allerdale stakeholders on the publication of the
MRWS White Paper and accompanying invitation to express an interest in opening
up, without commitment, discussions with Government on the possibility of hosting a
geological disposal facility at some point in the future. The notes of this meeting are
Document 2468. The conclusions of the meeting will be discussed by the Nuclear
Issues Group of Allerdale B C on 6 th November and the full Council will decide which
course of action to take on 8 th December.
Cumbria County Council
10. Cumbria County Council is seeking views from organisations in and around the
County on the response to Government’s invitation to express an interest in
participating in the MRWS process. Officers will report solicited and unsolicited
responses to the Cabinet of Cumbria County Council on 4 th November. The full
Council meeting on 20 th November will be asked to make a decision on whether the
County should express interest.
11. The expected letter from the Chief Executive Officer of Cumbria County Council to
meet with CoRWM is still awaited.
CoSLA
12. Following the meeting that was held with representatives from COSLA on 25 th April,
2008 in Edinburgh, COSLA policy presented a paper to the COSLA Convention
intimating that CoRWM would be happy to give a presentation to Councillors and
senior officials on the MRWS process. The offer was rejected, as was CoRWM’s
offer to submit an article to ‘COSLA Connections’. The matter is being pursued by
those who were unable to attend the Convention, as it is considered that, at a
minimum, Scottish local authorities should be aware of what is happening with
regard to the UK nuclear waste policy. The Association is still considering how
issues associated with the long-term management of waste in Scotland should be
addressed.
Welsh Local Authorities
Doc.2474 – Working group D (MRWS) progress report to November, 2008 Plenary Page 2 of 4

13. The note of the meeting with Ynys Mon County Council on 5 th September is now
available on the CoRWM website (document 2432).
14. Gwynedd County Council has requested a meeting with CoRWM on 17 th November.
The attendees from CoRWM will be Robert Pickard and Mark Dutton.
Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA)
15. Contact has been made with the Chair, Mike Romney of Fife Council, who suggested
that a meeting should await the appointment of a new secretary to the NFLA. The
secretary was appointed in mid October, and we are looking at possible dates.
Task 3.12: Evaluate and advise on the appropriateness of decision-making
processes and responsibilities
16. Mark Dutton and Nicola Martin attended the meeting of Radioactive Waste Steering
Group on 13 th October as observers.
17. The MRWS Implementation Project Group (IPG) is being replaced by the Geological
Disposal Implementation Board (GDIB). It had been agreed that John Rennilson
could observe the IPG. The Secretariat are in discussion with Government about
John’s attendance at the GDIB.
18. The draft of the position paper has undergone one round of comments by the Group.
It is intended to present it to the January Plenary.
Task 3.13: Evaluate whether decision-makers are learning from international
experience
19. On 4 th September, Les Netherton attended the 3 rd national UK Steering Group
meeting of COWAM In Practice project (CIP) which is part of the 6 th Framework
Research Programme of the European Commission. The aim of the project is to
improve the governance of radioactive waste and generate European guidelines for
its management. There are to be 5 national Steering Group meetings. The 3 rd
meeting provided a review of the current state of radioactive waste governance in the
UK and an update on research in the following areas: defining affected communities;
community benefit and support packages; long term surveillance and retrievability. A
report will be published by COWAM in the near future
(www.westlakes.org/live/html/events/archive/cowam/cowam.htm). This project will
be important for the MRWS programme and the work of CoRWM.
Task 6.1: Scrutinise effectiveness of individual regulators with respect to MRWS
programme
20. HSE are preparing a consultation document on changes to regulations to enable
disposal facilities to be licensed as such (rather than as storage facilities , as at
present). The Defra consultation on the regulations under the Environmental
Permitting programme that would permit staged authorisation of a geological
Doc.2474 – Working group D (MRWS) progress report to November, 2008 Plenary Page 3 of 4

disposal facility under the Radioactive Substances Act had not begun at the time of
writing (20 October).
Task 6.3: Scrutinise the applications of Strategic Environmental Assessment
(SEA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Sustainability Assessment
(SA)
21. A proposed response on behalf of CoRWM (Document 2477) to the NDA
consultation on SEA will be presented to the Plenary by Brian Clark.
Task 9.2: Scrutinise the strategic risk registers of responsible bodies
22. A position paper will be presented to the Plenary by Margaret Burns (document
2476).
Maintenance of Schedule
23. The work of the Group is on schedule.
Invitation to CoRWM
24. At the November Plenary, CoRWM members are invited to:
address the recommendations that will be made in the papers on:
a. Task 6.3 response to the NDA consultation on SEA.
b. Task 3.4 local authority responses
c. Task 9.2 strategic risk assessments
Mark Dutton
Doc.2474 – Working group D (MRWS) progress report to November, 2008 Plenary Page 4 of 4