LONDON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Some members of a committee named by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to oversee nuclear waste say the government is too slow to deal with the problem.
Professor Gordon MacKerron, chairman of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, told The Independent that proposing new nuclear power stations before the committee's final report is released could undermine the process of finding a home for the waste.
"People expect the waste issue to be resolved before any decision is taken on building new reactors. That was what we had been led to believe was the government's position," he said.
Britain has about 2.3 million cubic meters of radioactive waste from civil and military sources. More than 90 percent of the waste is in temporary storage at 37 sites, and experts say that 24 of those sites could be vulnerable to rising sea levels or suffer storm damage.
