The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Michael Fallon)
I am pleased to announce today the publication of the third annual report of the Government’s managing radioactive waste safely (MRWS) programme. The programme is focused on implementing the geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste.
The Government remain firmly committed to geological disposal as the right policy for the long term safe and secure management of higher activity radioactive waste, and continues to hold the view that the best means of selecting a site for a geological disposal facility is an approach based on voluntarism and partnership.
In line with Secretary of State’s written ministerial statement of 31 January 2013, Official Report, col. 54WS, the Government have been considering what lessons can be learned from the experiences of the MRWS programme in west Cumbria and elsewhere. We have invited views on the site-selection aspects of the ongoing MRWS programme, and the responses to this “call for evidence” will inform a consultation later in the year.
The third annual report can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/managing-radioactive-waste-safely-implementing-geological-disposal-annual-report. I have also written to the chairs of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee and the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, and I have made available copies in the Libraries of both Houses.