Dounreay - the time for international action
01 January 1991
Dounreay - the time for international action
artdoc March=1992
NENIG Briefing no 42
SUMMARY: Dounreay has signed the first of an estimated 50
possible contracts for reprocessing and storing overseas
nuclear waste; the prospects of Dounreay being chosen for the
UK's radioactive waste repository have increase; and later
this month the London Dumping Convention will discuss issues
vital to Dounreay's future.
Contents
1. London Dumping Convention
2. New Reprocessing Contracts
3. Nuclear waste dump at Dounreay
4. Transports and the EC
5. Summary of other news
1. London Dumping Convention
1.1 One of the major global inter-governmental marine
pollution conventions, the London Dumping Convention (LDC), is
meeting in the last week of October and will consider vital
issues concerning radioactive pollution.
1.2 At the meeting pro-nuclear countries, such as the UK,
France and Germany, are likely to call for a moratorium
(temporary ban) on dumping radioactive wastes into the sea to
be relaxed. This is because the countries want to dump old
nuclear submarines and parts of former nuclear power stations
into the sea.
1.3 However, other non-nuclear countries will be pressing for
the moratorium to be made into a permanent ban.
1.4 The LDC will also consider two other vital issues:
1.4.1 Should the burial of radioactive wastes into the seabed,
accessed from the sea (known as subseabed disposal from the
sea) be classified as 'dumping' by the LDC. Most countries
wanted this type of disposal banned at the 1990 meeting of the
North Sea Ministers Conference (March, The Hague) but the UK
refused to agree, demanding the right to bury its radioactive
waste in this way if it wanted.
1.4.2 Should the burial of radioactive waste under seabed in
repositories accessed from the land (subseabed disposal
accessed from land) be classified as 'dumping' by the LDC.
This is the type of dump proposed by the UK for Dounreay or
Sellafield.
1.4.3 At present neither of these types of disposal is
considered as 'dumping' in international law. All NENIG
contacts should ensure their country is sending a
representative to the LDC meeting and Governments should be
encouraged to support classifying both forms of disposal
(1.4.1 and 1.4.2) as dumping.
2. New Reprocessing Contracts
2.1 Dounreay has signed the first of a possible 50 contracts
with research reactors from all over the world. The contract,
with PTB, the German nuclear safety agency, is to store and
reprocess over 40 fuel elements. Transport of the fuel is
expected before the end of the year and Dounreay has agreed to
keep some of the waste for 25 years although some may never be
returned to Germany. Transport details of the spent fuel are
not known.
2.2 German unification means that a another contract may soon
be signed by Dounreay to reprocess spent research reactor
fuel. The West Berlin Government refused a licence for the
HMI reactor because plans to export the waste to Dounreay were
not environmentally acceptable. But with unification
responsibility for nuclear matters now passes from Berlin to
the Federal Government in Bonn. The Christian Democrat
Government supports exporting fuel to the UK for reprocessing
and is expected to overturn the Berlin decision.
2.3 There are another four reactors in Germany which may sign
contracts with Dounreay. The Australian nuclear agency is
known to be discussing a contract with Dounreay and a reactor
at Petten in the Netherlands, partly owned by the European
Community, is also about to sign a contract. The UK Government
has stated its full support for Dounreay and said it will help
get as much reprocessing work as possible from overseas
customers.
2.4 Research reactors are interested in signing contracts with
Dounreay because they have only limited storage for spent
(used) fuel. Once their fuel storage is full either they must
close down, or find somewhere to put