We believe that today's problems are more serious than currently acknowledged

Royal Society

The problem is worse than previously thought and now so great it may cost £85bn to dispose of existing waste, according to the Royal Society.

The institutions and processes set up to deal with nuclear waste disposal "do not command public confidence", it added.

And the problem has worsened because research has been neglected.

The society, Britain's national academy of sciences, makes the criticisms in a report on developing UK policy for managing radioactive waste.

Waste multiplying

Professor Geoffrey Boulton, who chaired the society's working group on radioactive waste, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme of his concerns.

With the events of 11 September, 2001, in mind, we advocate an urgent safety review

Royal Society

He said there was already 10,000 tonnes of nuclear waste and this was set to multiply by 50 times in the next few decades as existing power stations were decommissioned.

Not only does short term waste storage need to be improved but there is an urgent need for further research into storing problematic waste such as plutonium, he said.

"One of the most difficult problems is the failure to recognise the need for public consent on policies related to toxic waste," he told the programme.

He argued that institutions that had lost public confidence needed to be changed.

"People are unsure about the relative safety of waste disposal."

The society said recent events had made the need for a safety review all the more essential.

"With the events of 11 September, 2001, in mind, we advocate an urgent safety review which should take into account the possibility of extreme terrorist intervention," it said.

Secondary consideration

The report is the society's submission to a consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Nuclear waste is a topical issue across Europe

It says: "The problem of disposal of existing radioactive waste is serious and urgent".

The report said: "The industry seems to have regarded treatment of waste as of secondary importance, and to have focused its efforts on countering what it saw as unfounded hostile public opinion and on economic concerns.

It continued: "We believe that today's problems are more serious than currently acknowledged."

Even so, the report said: "The current waste management regime falls short of that which could be achieved through the use of currently available technologies".

It recommended the creation of an independent waste management commission to foster public consultation and debate.

Replace agencies

It wants a separate executive body to implement policy.

And it warned that there could be a human cost to this neglect.

"The present hazard is real and the risk only maintained at acceptably low levels by very active management systems.

"These are costly and inevitably bring some risk of worker exposure."

It says the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) and Nirex, the nuclear waste management agency should be replaced.

Chris Murray, managing director of UK Nirex, accepted the report was an indictment of his company's past actions and of the system.

"However over the past four years we have tried to learn these lessons," he said.

He agreed that the long term consequences of the waste had to be considered and that Nirex had to operate independently from the industry.