Information on the HAW in Scotland is given in one of the seven support­ing documents to the policy, Higher Activity Radioactive Waste in Scotland (Scottish Government, 2011d). This document is based on the NDA 2007 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory (UKRWI) and gives detailed breakdowns of the HAW by location, type of materials, radioactivity levels and volumes. It gives information on the current amounts of HAW in store and the final lifetime packaged volumes after decommissioning has been completed. The most up-to-date inventory for the UK is now the NDA 2010 UKRWI (NDA, 2011a) and an overview of NDA higher activity waste (NDA, 2012). The newer information for Scotland is not significantly different in overall terms from the 2007 UKRWI. There is no comparable analysis of the 2010 UKRWI data in the format of the Scottish government’s supporting docu­ment. For a specific review of a topic to be as accurate as possible, all three sources should be consulted. As these data are compiled from estimates that have different levels of robustness, there is naturally uncertainty in the figures but this does not affect description of the bigger picture and devel­oping strategies.

A summary of the HAW, by owner and location, currently stored in Scotland and the estimated final lifetime packaged volumes to around 2125 is given in Table 17.3 . A summary of the HAW, by type of waste, on the same basis is given in Table 17.4. The volume of HAW currently stored and the estimated final lifetime packaged volume are both about 8.5% of the total UK HAW inventory.

The radioactivity content of the HAW is currently around 700,000 TBq and is calculated to decay to 50,000 TBq by 2150. This radioactivity content is currently around 18% of the UK total radioactivity in intermediate level radioactive waste (ILW), dropping to around 9% by 2150. Around 40% of the radioactivity content in HAW in Scotland is in ILW at Dounreay both currently and in 2150. There is no high level radioactive waste (HLW) in Scotland.