Radioactive emissions from Bradwell nuclear power station should be reduced following the implementation of new guidelines on waste disposal.

The Environment Agency, which regulates the gas discharges from the power station, introduced the new guidelines last month.

They will have to be followed throughout the machine defuelling process at Bradwell.

Major refurbishment work is being carried out on the defuelling machinery and fuel dispatch areas. About 40,000 fuel elements will be removed from the reactors over the next three years.

In October the Environment Agency (EA) informed British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) it was planning to issue new rules for the disposal of nuclear waste from eight nuclear power stations, including Bradwell.

The Environment Agency ran a major consultation in 2000. Now the consultation process has been completed arrangements have been put in place to comply with the new requirements.

Previously, there were separate organisations for each power station site with one for each type of waste and disposal route. Now the radioactive waste disposal for each site will be regulated through one organisation.

Environment Agency chairman Sir John Harman said: "The new conditions will deliver better protection for people and the environment.

"The Agency's approach, will increase the pressure for reductions in radioactive emissions and ensure that best practice is applied at every site."

A spokesman for BNFL said: "Both we and the EA believe the new authorisations will help us to improve our protection of the environment."

"New guidelines are exactly what we need and we welcome them", said James Abbott, a spokesman for the Green Party.

"There is a strong need to continually drive down the limits. We should not be releasing radioactive emissions into the environment at all but anything that lowers emissions has got to be a good thing. We need more stringent controls."

Published Thursday, January 2, 2003

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