On 11 February the Geological Society held a meeting with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, to discuss NDA’s progress to date and to stimulate debate and discussion about the ongoing task of disposing of the UK’s radioactive waste,
writes Sarah Day.
The meeting was an important opportunity for the geoscientific community to keep up to date about plans and opportunities in what is likely to be one of the largest and longest running Earth science and civil engineering projects in the UK.
Geological disposal has already been selected as the most suitable, and communities are being asked to volunteer to host a repository. Representatives from NDA and the British Geological Survey explained how sites are then screened for suitability, outlining the criteria and next steps. The timescale for the project is long; it is unlikely that any repository will be fully operational for another two to three decades. As many of the participants pointed out, a long-term solution, while taking more time to implement, is preferable in the long run, to reduce the burden on future generations.