Advice to ministers on the Ministry of Defence's radioactive waste management practices

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is a major UK user of radioactive materials and produces significant amounts of radioactive wastes. Its activities also give rise to discharges of radioactivity to the environment. In this report, RWMAC notes continued improvement in MoD'S arrangements and standards for dealing with its radioactive wastes, examples of which are discussed throughout this report. These improvements include progressive extension of civil regulation (as a consequence of processes of contractorisation and privatisation), establishment of the Naval Nuclear Regulatory Panel (NNRP) to improve control of the naval nuclear propulsion programme, better liaison with Nirex, and increasing openness and transparency in the way in which MoD conducts its radioactive waste management activities. There have also been significant improvements in respect of both management practices and facilities at individual sites. In general terms, RWMAC is able to reaffirm its view, first expressed in its 1997 report on defence wastes that MoD'S radioactive waste management practices are of a similar standard to those of the civil nuclear industry. Nevertheless, a number of problems have been encountered by MoD, and the private companies engaged in defence-related work, during the period since 1997. One such problem concerns identification of carbon-14 in naval nuclear propulsion programme (NNPP) waste streams; this has had a significant impact on 'store and decay' strategies for radioactive waste management at the major NNPP sites. This and other problems, together with MoD'S response, are reported here. The recommendations set out below, if implemented, would, RWMAC believes, help to sustain the general improvements already made in management of defence wastes. Other recommendations concern ongoing difficulties with regard to MoD'S management of its radioactive wastes, in relation to both general programmes, such as that for nuclear weapons, and specific sites