The regulatory review of safety-related information regarding underground radioactive waste disposal in England and Wales

This paper builds upon earlier related contributions to the ESREL/PSAM Conference series and elsewhere, to outline the nature of a safety case based upon probabilistic risk analysis and the options for its assessment by a regulatory authority. Much has been published since the late 1970's concerning the methods and tools used to perform technical analyses of radiological performance for any single party in a democratic society. However, little attention seems to have been given in the literature to the way in which such analyses, undertaken independently by a regulator, are best used to probe the safety case and its underlying arguments in a coherent and traceable manner. Recent experience from the review of preliminary safety-related information for a proposed deep repository in England indicates that further consideration should be given to the regulatory methodology, to possible difficulties due to oversimplified analyses, and to careful preparation for Public Hearings. (author)