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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which existing nuclear waste facilities are foolproof against (1) all possible types of security threat from land, sea and air, and (2) the consequences of climate change.

All nuclear sites, including nuclear waste facilities, are required to develop and maintain a site security plan in order to be licensed to operate by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. These site security plans are required to demonstrate compliance against the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003, which includes having to plan for managing all types of potential security threats. Implementation of the plans is also overseen by the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

Flooding and climate change considerations are a major element of the Safety Case that must be developed and maintained for every nuclear facility as part of the licence conditions against which sites must operate. These Safety Cases are also assessed and approved by the by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. In addition, operators of nuclear waste disposal facilities must produce Environmental Safety Cases which demonstrate the safety of disposals of nuclear waste, now and in the future, managed within assessed risk scenarios consistent with regulatory guidance. These risk scenarios include the potential consequences of climate change. It is the Environmental Safety Case that determines if disposals may continue or not and what limitations or conditions may be required to minimise any impact to the environment.