Nuclear waste

I spent most of the morning waiting for the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to post their final report on the website. It was due at 10:30am, but didn't appear until much, much later. Thankfully the local media were able to source a copy, and I was able to read and comment on it early.

It is now there for all to see, but the basic recommendations which are relevant to the Western Isles are:

• Deep disposal (now known as geological disposal, as the actual site may be shallow) is the preferred option
• The chosen locality should follow an invitation from the local community based on agreed materials to be disposed of
• The materials should be stored close to the chosen locality in the interim
• The minimum amount of repackaging should occur

The Government should consider alternative methods of disposal, such as retrievable canisters as part of the process

I surprised myself by agreeing with most of the recommendations, which seem eminently sensible, and have two excellent knock-on effects:

• The Western Isles isn't going to issue an invitation
• There is no suitable locality for interim storage

I've urged the Government to accept the recommendations in full, and then immediately rule out the Western Isles as possible sites, but more than that, we need to ensure that nowhere in Scotland is used as a nuclear dump. Beyond that, we need to ask why nuclear in the first place, and instead invest heavily in renewable energy (see posts passim).

All in all, a well written Committee report that avoids controversy whilst making solid recommendations.