Consultation: Guidance for solid radioactive waste facilities

Views sought on proposals to update guidance on regulating near surface and geological disposal facilities for solid radioactive waste.

The Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency are consulting on proposals to update existing guidance on how they regulate near surface and geological disposal facilities for solid radioactive waste. 

The draft guidance documents explain what an operator must show to obtain an authorisation for such a radioactive waste disposal facility.

This consultation includes the draft guidance on the requirements for authorisation (GRA) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, a similar consultation will be taking place for a GRA with a focus on near surface disposal facilities only. The staged regulation guidance applies only in England.

The process to find a suitable site and a willing community to host a geological disposal facility is being taken forward in England and Wales only. Any near surface disposal facilities will also be located in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) only.

There are no radioactive waste disposal facilities in Northern Ireland, therefore the guidance will have limited application here, but it remains relevant as radioactive waste from NI is disposed of through facilities in GB. The requirements that will apply to radioactive waste disposal facilities are therefore of interest to registered holders of radioactive substances here.

Views are sought on the draft guidance documents to help the Environment Agencies to finalise and publish them in 2025.

Find out more about the consultation and how to respond.

First published 20 November 2024