Margaret Ritchie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent assessment he has made of the potential risks posed by (a) flooding and (b) rising sea levels at the Drigg Low-Level Waste Repository in Cumbria.

Michael Fallon

Radioactive waste management activities are subject to permitting by the Environment Agency under legislation introduced by the Department.

As part of the environmental permitting process for radioactive waste disposal the Agency has required the operators of the Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) to consider long term coastal erosion at the site and the need for and feasibility of providing sea defences. These issues are assessed within an Environmental Safety Case submitted to the Environment Agency in May 2011 which has been subject to review by the Environment Agency over the last two to three years and also the subject of a public consultation between November 2013 and February 2014.