Mining: Radioactive Waste

(asked on 21st September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of whether the Radioactive Waste Management Strategy has ensured that radioactive by-products from the extractive industry are always processed in a safe manner.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 29th September 2020

Waste from the extractive industry is covered by the 2009 Radioactive Discharges Strategy (2009 Discharges Strategy) and the 2014 Strategy for the management of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) waste in the UK. These strategies aim to limit the exposure of the public and the environment to radiation and require the safe processing of waste as part of those intended outcomes.

In England, the safe management of radioactive wastes is regulated by the Environment Agency in accordance with The Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016.

A 2018 review of the 2009 Discharges Strategy found that the UK was making good progress towards the Strategy’s intended outcomes and was contributing to the dose reduction aims of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic. Overall progress on the Strategy’s implementation is monitored through close liaison with our partners in the Devolved Administrations and UK environmental regulators.

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