Waste management: the need for a systematic approach

The creation, storage and disposal of radioactive wastes are subject to comprehensive regulatory control. Responsibility for satisfying the regulatory authorities requirements rests with site operators. At the various stages of design, construction, and operation of plant, of provision of storage facilities for wastes and of treatment and disposal of wastes the regulators need to be satisfied that the operator has a soundly based waste management plan. This assurance can best be achieved by deriving the plan from a Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) Study as described by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in their twelfth report. The concept of BPEO requires a systematic approach to decision taking in which the practicability of all reasonable options is examined and in which environmental impact is a major factor in the final choice Applications for authorization to dispose of radioactive wastes which should demonstrate that all possible waste management options have been considered by use of a BPEO Study and that process and plant will provide the Best Practizable means to reduces the radioactivity levels of discharges. (author)