To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will publish an update on the review of security arrangements for nuclear waste storage being undertaken by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. (163857)

Following the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management's 2006 recommendations, the NDA is currently in the process of carrying out a review of higher activity waste storage on behalf of Government. In drawing up the review, NDA has extended the scope beyond the narrowest definition of ‘durability of stores’ in order to address the concerns expressed on storage of non-immobilised wastes in various legacy facilities. The NDA will not include a detailed assessment of the security arrangements for waste storage facilities because this is the responsibility of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) (part of the Nuclear Directorate of the HSE), the Government regulator for security in the civil nuclear industry.

OCNS ensures that all nuclear wastes on licensed nuclear sites or in transit, are subject to a level of security commensurate with their category and activity in accordance with the demanding requirements of the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 (NISR 03). Security arrangements are kept under constant review by OCNS who liaise with NDA and site licensees to ensure compliance with NISR 03.