ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the proposition that waste disposal strategy in the United Kingdom is a political rather than a ‘rational’ or ‘scientific’ process. It shows how strategy has evolved in response to the changing political environment, leading to the proposals for land burial of radioactive wastes. The chapter explores the political controversy over this policy, with specific reference to the case of one of the proposed sites. It explains the proposals for dealing with high level waste and intermediate level waste in the changing political context of the 1980s. The power to determine nuclear waste management strategies has been exercised within an exclusive, interconnected set of relationships between government and the nuclear industry. The Department of the Environment is the Government Department with prime responsibility for ensuring safety. The nuclear industry possesses decisive advantages over its environmental and planning critics in the decision making process, through its membership of or privileged access to Government bodies.
