I - West Cumbria MRWS Partnership

Inspector's Report CUMBRIA COUNTY COUNCIL APPEAL
by
UNITED KINGDOM NIREX LIMITED Inspector: C S McDonald MA DMA LMRTPI Solicitor Asst. Inspector: C Jarvis LLB Solicitor Assessor: C V Knipe BSc CEng CGeol MIMinE MIMM FGS Dates of Inquiry: 5 September 1995 to 1 February 1996 File: APP1H09001M9412470 19 CONTENTS
Section Chapter 1 Introduction
Abbreviations & Acronyms
Technical Glossary
Preamble to Report 1 2 Background
A. Legal, Political & Regulatory Framework 6
B. Site & Proposals 10
C. Development Plan 15 3 Legal Interpretations
A. Nature of Project & Relevance of Repository 25
B. Alternatives & Availability of Information 31
C. Marine Discharges 42 4 Conformity with Development Plan
A. Statutory Development Plan 47
B. Retained & Emerging Policies 59 5 Environmental Effects
A. Visual Impact 65
B. Soci~Economic Impact 84
C. Traffic Impact 106
D. Noise & Vibration Effects 116
E. Other Effects 123 6 Scientific & Technical Benefits
A. Basic Repository Icocational Criteria 130
B. Site Selection Process 147
C. Science & Technical Programmes 170
D. Model Development 212
E. Radiological Protection & Safety Assessment 229
F. Role of RCF & Promise of PRZ 246 7 Conditions
A. Mitigation of Environmental Effects 259
B. Ensuring Scientific & Technical Benefits 262
8 Final Conclusions 265
9 Recommendation 278
Appendices 1. Assessor's Report
2. Appearances
3. Documents
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS Parties [and see the document codes at the start of the Documents List]
Construction Workers = Cumbria Construction Workers
Copeland - Copeland Borough Cooncil, the district planning authority
CORE - Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment Cumbria Cumbria County Council, the respondent planning authority FOE - Friends of the Earth Ltd FOE Cumbria - Cumbrian Groups of Friends of the Earth FOLD - Friends of the Lake District, the local branch of the Council
for the Protection of Rural England GAG - Gosforth Action Group Gosforth - Gosforth Parish Council, the parish council Greenpeace - Greenpeace Ltd HMIP - Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution Nirex - United Kingdom Nirex Ltd, the appellant company NSCNFLA - National Steering Committee of Nuclear Free Local
Authorities
Shop Stewards - Windscale & Calder Joint Shop Stewards Committee SCC - South Cumbria Citizens, a coalition of interested persons Other Acronyms & Technical Terms (and see the Glossaries] (NB Orders of magnitude are generally expressed according to the normal
scientific convention, eg:- l~ = a hundred million & lOF' = a millionth or
one in a million)
ACSNI - Advisory Committee on Safety of Nuclear Installations
ALARA - as low as reasonably achievable
aOD - above Ordnance Datum
BGS - British Geological Survey
BH - borehole
BNFL - British Nuclear Fuels plc
bOD - below Ordnance Datum
BPEO - best practicable environmental option
Bq - becquerel(s)
BUSC - basement (rock) under sedimentary cover
BYG - Borrowdale Volcanic Group (of rocks)
CDF - Cumulative Density (Distribution) Function
cm - centimetre(s)
COMARE - Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in
Environment
cu - cubic
DSA - Detailed Safety Assessment
DWR - deep waste repository
ECJ - European Court of Justice
ES - Environmental Statement
FHFZ - Fleming Hall Fault Zone
F - Fault
Green Book - Disposal Facilities on Land for I~w & Intermediate-
Level Radioactive Wastes: Principles for the Protection
of the Human Environment 1984 [Doc.GOV1302]
g - gram(s)
ha - hectare(s)
HLW - high-level, or heat-generating, (radiaoctive) wastes
IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency
ICRP - International Commission on Radiological Protection
ILW - intermediate-level (radioactive) wastes
k - kilo
LDBFZ - Lake District Boundary Fault Zone
LLW - low-level (radioactive) wastes
LP - Copeland Local Plan, deposit version as recommended
to be modified
M - million(s)
m - metre(s), or as first letter in compound abbreviations =
milli
MADA - multi-attribute decision analysis
MASCOT - program of suite of sub-models to quantify radionuclide
flow ftom repository to biosphere
NAMMU - groundwater modelling program of the continuum porous
medium type
NAPSAC - groundwater modelling program of the fracture network
type
NEA - Nuclear Energy Agency (of the OECD)
NII - Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
NRPB - National Radiological Protection Board
NRVB - Nirex Reference Vault Backfill
NSARP - Nirex Safety Assessment Research Programme
OECD - Org anisation for Economic Co~operation & Development
pa - per annum [and see /y below]
PCPA - Post Closure Performance Assessment
PCRA - Post Closure Risk Assessment
PCSA - Post Closure Safety Assessment
PCSR - Pre-Construction Safety Report
PDF - Probability Density or Distribution Function PERA Preliminary Environmental & Radiological Assessment (Doc.C0RI501 -
Nirex Report No.71]
PRZ - potential repository wne, the mainpart of the appeal site
PSA - Probabilistic Safety or Systems Assessment
RADWASS - (IAEA's) Radioactive Waste Safety Standards Programme
RCF rock characterisation facility
RCM - rock characterisafion monitoring (boreholes)
REV - representative elemental or elementary volume (of rock)
RSA - Repository Safety Assessment
RWMAC - Radioactive Waste Management Committee
SFZ - Seascale Fault Zone
SP - Cumbria & Lake District Joint Structure Plan 1991-2006,
adopted July 1995
SSG - Sherwood Sandstone Group
STZ - Saline Transition Zone
Sv - sievert(s)
t - tonne(s)
TBq Tera-becquerel (a million million - 1012 - becquerels)
THORP - Thermal Oxide Re-processing Plant
TOR - Tolerability of Risk
URL - Underground Rock or Research Laboratory
VEM - Visual Envelope Map
/y - peryear
ZLEC - zone of locally enhanced conductivity
TECHNICAL GLOSSARY This gives the meanings of some technical terms used frequently in these
reports. For a more detailed glossaiy, see Document C0R/519. Actinide - An element following Actinium in the Periodic Table. Many of
the actinides are long-lived
alpha~mitters; examples are uranium and
plutonium. As low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) - Radiological doses or risks
from a source of exposure are as low as
reasonably achievable when they are
consistent with the relevant dose or risk
standard and have been reduced to a level
that represents a balance between
radiological and other factors, including
social and economic factors; the level of
protection may then be said to be
optimised. Authorisation = Permission given by a regulator to dispose of radioactive
waste subject to conditions which must be
met. Backfilling = - The refilling of the excavated portions of a disposal
facility after emplacement of the waste. Barrier = - A feature that delays or prevents migration of material to or
from the disposal facility. Becquerel = - The standard international unit of radioactivity equal to
one radioactive transformation per
second. Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) = - A concept developed by
the Royal Commission on Environmental
Pollution so that decisions on waste
management could be based on an
assessment of alternative options
evaluated on the basis of factors such as
the occupational and environmental risks,
the environmental impacts, the costs and
the social implications. Best Practical Means (BPM) = - Within a particular waste management
option,
the BPM is that level of management and
engineering control that minimises, as far as
practicable1 the radiological impact of the option whilst taking account of a wider range of
factors, including cost-effectiveness,
technological status, operational safety,
and social and environmental