Development and Delivery of National Strategic Approaches to Radioactive Waste Management in the UK - 16595
The UK has limited capacity for the management of radioactive wastes. Such capacity is needed to enable nuclear and non-nuclear sectors to continue to make responsible use of radioactive substances (e.g. for health care provision) as well as to deliver key objectives such as the decommissioning and clean-up of the civil nuclear legacy. A revision in UK LLW policy in 2007 led to the development of a range of national LLW strategies, each focusing on a particular radioactive waste sector. For various reasons each of the strategies was developed in a different way. The success of these strategies to-date includes the development of a range of new routes for LLW management, greater transparency and understanding of the challenges facing LLW management across the UK, and recognition of priorities for national work, e.g., to address issues such as the management of radioactive asbestos waste and the treatment of metallic radioactive wastes. The work also revealed common issues across each of the waste producing sectors, and the opportunity to improve future waste management through further integration. (authors)