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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the soundness of the fabric and installations currently containing nuclear waste in (1) the short-term, (2) the mid-term, and (3) the long-term; and, in the light of that assessment, what assessment they have made of the urgency of constructing new facilities.

The safety and integrity of installations currently containing nuclear waste are kept under constant review by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, as the regulatory body responsible for the safety of nuclear installations in the UK. In 2009, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority carried out a national review of nuclear waste stores it is responsible for on behalf of the Government. This work has informed the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s current strategy for the safe and secure management of radioactive waste installations, which was last updated in 2016 and includes an ongoing programme of radioactive waste retrieval, treatment and storage.

Modern radioactive waste stores are designed to store waste for at least 100 years and operated to provide an environment necessary to ensure the longevity of the waste packaging. Packages for radioactive waste in the UK need to meet the appropriate regulatory standards and expectations to ensure their suitability for long-term storage and compatibility with the requirements for permanent disposal in the future.