Radioactive waste chief calls for increase in R&D spending

Greater investment in R&D is needed if there is to be a substantial role for nuclear power in the UK in the future, says Laurence Williams, the recently appointed chairman of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

Williams, a professor of nuclear safety at the University of Central Lancashire, took up the role as chairman of the independent advisory committee on 1 November. He told Research Fortnight that there are two types of R&D the UK needs to focus on: research to “plug information gaps we need to make decisions in the not-too-distant future” and more fundamental, blue-sky work.