Consultation on waste site selection begins 25 June 2007 The UK
has started a consultation on how to choose sites for the long-
term management of radioactive wastes. Last year the UK
government accepted the recommendations of the Committee on
Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) that intermediate- and
high-level radioactive wastes should be stored in robust
facilities above ground until a permanent geologic repository is
available. The next material step in the disposal process would
be to define the required facilities and choose suitable sites.
Before that can take place, the UK government's Department of
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has begun a consultation on
the process of site selection. It has published a number of
proposals based on four pillars: It is widely accepted among
nuclear industry experts that radioactive waste can be safely
stored for the long term in underground facilities that use man-
made and natural barriers to isolate wastes from the biosphere.
Processes to reach this goal have