鈥淲ITH a gestation period longer than an elephant, it has delivered a mouse,鈥� says Keith Baverstock, a radiation scientist from the University of Kuopio in Finland.
He is talking about the UK鈥檚 Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which has taken three years to deliberate on how best to dispose of the UK鈥檚 nuclear waste and come up with a solution that the government has already rejected not once but three times in the past 30 years.
CoRWM announced on 27 April that geological disposal is the 鈥渂est available approach鈥� in the long term for the UK鈥檚 470,000 cubic metres of highly radioactive nuclear waste. This involves burial between 300 metres and 2 kilometres underground in stable geological formations.
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CoRWM also highlighted the need for secure 鈥渋nterim storage鈥� for several decades and says the government needs to begin selecting sites. The committee鈥檚 chairman, Gordon MacKerron, stressed that the recommendation should not be seen as a green light for new nuclear power stations 鈥� something the government is considering.
