These web pages, prepared by the Radioactive Substances Division, in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, aim to inform you of our work, and to provide links to other related sites.

Latest material

• The Secretary of State Margaret Beckett, along with Environment Ministers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has appointed Katharine Bryan to be the Chair for the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), following the Next steps Announcement made on the 29th July 2002. See New Release from 16 July 2003. For more information go to our Radioactive Waste Management pages.

• In March 2003 Defra sponsored a workshop in Manchester to scope a public and stakeholder engagement programme on radioactive waste. Defra commissioned the Environment and Society Research Unit, (Department of Geography), of University College London to design, facilitate and report on this workshop. The report (Volume 1), and its companion of background papers (Volume 2), are now available on our research pages. For more information go to our Radioactive Waste Management pages.

• Update on the Nirex Position on the Disposability of Technetium-99 as Intermediate Level Waste

• Following the Next steps Announcement made on the 29th July 2002, the application stage of the recruitment process for members of the independent body, Committee on radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) ended on 2 May 2003. Applications are now being assessed. However you can still view copies of the information pack. See also this News Release.

• Decision of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Health re. the Environment Agency's Proposed Decision on the Future Regulation of Technetium-99 Discharges from British Nuclear Fuels plc's Sellafield Site into the Irish Sea - see also this News Release (11 December 2002)

• Exemption Orders under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993
• Managing Radioactive Waste Safely: the Next Steps
• UK Strategy for radioactive discharges 2001 - 2020

Further information

Radioactive Substances Division (RAS) is responsible for Defra’s environment interests in nuclear and radioactive matters encompassing radioactive waste management policy and legislation; environmental radioactivity, including radioactive discharges, contaminated land and radon in the home; response to overseas radiological emergencies; and research. There is a strong international dimension to the Division’s work.

RAS works with with DTLR's Radioactive Materials Transport Division (who regulate all means of transport for radioactive waste and materials) and with other Government Departments - Department of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Defence, Welsh National Assembly, Scottish Executive and Northern Ireland Office - on matters of nuclear and radiological interest. In addition, RAS works very closely with other bodies such as the Environment Agency, which deals with the control of radioactive wastes and discharges in England and Wales, and the Health and Safety Executive, which controls workers' safety on UK nuclear sites and research centres and any direct public exposure from the operations of these organisations.

• Background: the physics of radioactivity
• Discharges of Radioactivity
• Response to Radiological Emergencies
• Radon
• Radioactive Waste Management
• Radioactively Contaminated Land
• International Activities
• Research
• Independent Advisory Bodies to Government
  
  
• Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC)

Recent Consultations, Decisions etc

• Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (by 12 March 2002)
• Radioactive Substances: Proposed Natural Gas Exemption Order (by 19 December 2001) - Analysis of Responses now published
• The Environment Agency's proposed decision on the application made by Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited to dispose of radioactive waste from Devonport Royal Dockyard, Plymouth: Decision of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Health

• Decision of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Secretary of State for Health re. the Environment Agency's Proposed Decision on the Future Regulation of Technetium-99 Discharges from British Nuclear Fuels plc's Sellafield Site into the Irish Sea

• Government Decision (3 October 2001) on the manufacture of MOX fuel
• Earlier material on the Sellafield MOX consultations

Defra is not responsible for the contents or reliability of the linked web sites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. Listing should not be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.