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

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will make public their findings of the relative geological suitability of all parts of the UK, including potential offshore sites, for the disposal of nuclear waste.

Ahead of the launch of a siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility, the Government will publish the findings from a National Geological Screening (NGS) exercise that brings together existing information about England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s geology relevant to the long term safety of a geological disposal facility. These findings will be presented in the format of a series of brief narratives describing the key characteristics of the geological environment and their relevance to safety for siting a Geological Disposal Facility for the whole of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, subdivided in to 13 regions and out to 20 kilometres from the shore. The narratives will be illustrated with maps, where appropriate. For some attributes, information will be presented at a national level only, because data are very sparse or vary little across all regions, and so there will also be a short national output presenting this information, which is applicable to all regions. The findings will be made available in an accessible form, providing authoritative information that can be used in early discussions with communities about their geological potential to host a disposal facility.