The annual meeting was held on 7 – 9 April and was hosted by Lancaster University. The local organiser was Jackie Pates. The meeting was well attended with approximately 60 participants.

The Annual COGER Lecture was given this year by Prof Charles Curtis, a geochemist from the University of Manchester, who is also Chairman of RWMAC (the UK’s Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee). The title of his lecture was: ‘Managing UK Radioactive Waste Safely – Now and into the Future’. In a very interesting and informative lecture the most striking point made was the fact that, while high level wastes (HLW) are the most hazardous and of greatest public concern, there are greater volumes of intermediate and low level wastes (ILW & LLW). The decommissioning of our older power stations is likely to produce very large volumes of slightly radioactive materials – towards the lower limit of the LLW category. What will happen to all of that?

Two long-serving members of Steering Committee stepped down this year: John Thompson (Southampton Oceanography Centre) and Marian Scott (University of Glasgow). Irene Zinger of the Environment Agency and Gus Mackenzie of the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre have agreed to join the committee.