Wales Launches New Policy on Radioactive Waste Disposal

摘要

On January 16, 2019, the Welsh Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths published a new policy - Geological Disposal of Higher Activity Radioactive Waste: Working with Communities (the Working with Com-munities Policy) - concerning geological disposal of radioac-tive waste, which outlines the engagement process for com-munities in Wales who wish to enter into discussions about the possibility of hosting a geological disposal facility (GDF). The Welsh government adopted the policy of sup-porting geological disposal for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste (HAW) in 2015 and this new policy marks the final stage of the development process, including a consultation that closed in April 2018. Griffiths noted that the government has not identified any potential sites or communities to host a GDF in Wales and the govern-ment does not plan to do so. She wrote, “Our policy is very clear; a GDF can only be sited in Wales if a community is willing to host it.”