SRP2 (06) - Press Release

Embargoed until 00.01 Wednesday 1st November 2006

Financial Costs versus Economic Value – measuring the effectiveness of nuclear site cleanup

Professor Butler is giving the keynote talk today (Wednesday 1st November 2006) to the Society for Radiological Protection’s meeting on “Integrated Waste Strategy.  He will cite many examples where government guidelines, for example for the valuation of health detriment, are exceeded by very large factors.

The main reason for this, he says, is that the key methodology used to assess cleanup schemes, the determination of Best Practical Means, does not measure whether the cost of any scheme is proportionate to its benefits. Regulatory guidance indeed states that a quantitative definition of ‘grossly disproportionate’ would be ‘difficult, if not impossible’.

Butler, and his co-worker Grace McGlynn of Integrated Decision Management Ltd, contend that the ‘impossible’ should be attempted and is likely to be found to be eminently possible.  The alternative is to carry on with no real measure of the effectiveness of cleanup, no way of balancing factors like worker and public dose, solid and liquid waste creation and hazard potential reduction rate against increased discharges.

‘If it was my £70B I’d be trying very hard to derive a decent methodology’, says Gregg Butler, ‘and as a taxpayer some of the £70B is indeed my money, so I’m at least making my views known!’

Notes for editors

1. This release is based on the talk “BPM/BPEO – Financial Costs vs Economic Value” to be given at 10.00am today (Wednesday 1st November 2006)  at the Society for Radiological Protection’s meeting ‘Moving on from BPEO/BPM: The Integrated Waste Strategy’ held at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1.

2. Prof Butler’s talk builds on experience during work undertaken for and with many nuclear organisations such as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and British Nuclear Fuels plc.  The views expressed, however, are solely those of the authors. Further information on the talk is available from Gregg Butler who is contactable on email gregg.butler@manchester.ac.uk or by telephone on 07802 469951

3. Accredited journalists are welcome to free registration to attend this meeting. Please contact Tessa Harris, SRP Administrator Tel. +44 (0)1364 644487, fax. +44 (0)1364 644492, email: admin@srp-uk.org if you would like to attend.

4. Further information on the meeting can be found at the Society for Radiological Protection's web site www.srp-uk.org

5. During the meeting itself please contact the Society's media representative, Brian Gornall, who will be available between 9.00am and 5.00pm on mobile 07836 667163.
 
6. Founded in 1963, the Society for Radiological Protection is the Scientific Society in the UK that covers the whole field of radiation protection. It now has nearly 2000 national and international members, who are professionally concerned with safety aspects of the use of ionising and non-ionising radiation in education, central and local government, industry, medicine and research.

7. The Society has the following objectives:-

•  to promote and advance the science of radiological protection and allied fields;
•  to promote, advance and disseminate to the public advantage, knowledge of radiological protection and allied fields;
•  to encourage, support, promote and advance education and learning in radiological protection and allied fields;
•  to promote and encourage high scientific, educational, regulatory and professional standards in radiological protection and allied fields.

8. This press release was written for the Society for Radiological Protection by Brian Gornall and distributed for the SRP by the Institute of Physics Press Office.
 

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