Sir, - Whether we like it or pot, radioactive waste exists, not just in the UK, but also in Ireland. The international consensus is that the best way of safely disposing of the more difficult of these materials is in a deep underground repository. This is the approach planned by, or already under way in, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Japan, France and the US.
Your leader (February 11th) is wrong to say that the UK is planning a repository under the Irish Sea. The site which Nirex is investigating2 near Sellafield, is centred on a point two miles inland. There will be a very substantial rock barrier between any waste and the Irish Sea. Further, the stainless steel drums in which most of the waste is packaged will last at least 1,000 years (and possibly more than 10,000).
The national and international regulations surrounding radioactive waste disposal are some of the most stringent in the world, and rightly so. If a site cannot be shown to be safe, then Nirex will not get permission to proceed. The next step in the continuing investigations at Sellafield is the construction of "rock laboratory" to test the rocks in greater detail, to see if they are suitable. If they are, then we will apply for permission to build a repository there; if they are not, we will have to look elsewhere.
But what will happen if radioactive waste is not disposed of safely underground? It will remain on the surface of the earth, and so is dependent on a stable society and economy to keep it safe. We do not need reminding that little more than 50 years ago bombs rained on Britain and, on occasion, Ireland. Whilst societies change and change rapidly (we only have to look at the convulsions in Eastern Europe) geological formations are by comparison, extremely stable.
So for these dangerous wastes - from which society has benefited through energy production, medicine and research - what should we trust: 460-million-year-old rocks, or mankind's frail will? - Yours, etc.,
Chief executive, United Kingdom Nirex Ltd., Curie Avenue, Harwell, Didcot, Oxfordshire.