NEW arrangements to find an underground nuclear waste dump risk failure because ministers have ignored a recommendation from their advisers to put an independent body in charge.

Members of the government's Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) have "substantial misgivings" about Scottish and English ministers' plans, which they fear could undermine public trust.

CoRWM recommended in July that 470,000 cubic metres of waste from nuclear power stations and weapons in the UK, some of which remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years, should be buried deep underground. It urged that an independent body be set up to oversee the search for a suitable site "without delay".

Although Westminster and the Scottish Executive have since agreed that deep disposal is the way forward, they have rejected establishing an independent oversight organisation to find a site. Instead, ministers have given the job to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the state agency responsible for dismantling nuclear plants at Sellafield, Dounreay and elsewhere. Nirex, the nuclear waste agency, is being closed down and taken over by the NDA.

CoRWM will meet in London on Thursday to agree its response to the government's plans. But a newsletter and minutes of its most recent meeting reveal that many of its 13 experts are worried.

The appointment of the NDA is regarded as problematic by some because of its agenda to promote short-term efficiency and its dual role as waste creator and waste disposer.

"The biggest concern was expressed over government's significant watering-down of CoRWM's recommendation for an independent overseeing body," stated CoRWM's latest e-bulletin. Plans to revamp CoRWM next year were too weak to provide the oversight that was essential, it said.

CoRWM members also criticised the "lack of consultation or transparency" in the way the government had made its decisions, according to the minutes of the committee's latest meeting on November 9. They also feared public confidence could be damaged.

Gordon MacKerron, CoRWM's chairman, stressed that CoRWM welcomed the government's commitment to deep disposal. "We are preparing a written response to government which will be considered at a CoRWM meeting held in public on Thursday," he said.

Nuclear consultant Pete Roche accused ministers of "deliberately misinterpreting" CoRWM's recommendations. "There is a serious conflict of interest in the NDA taking control of building the nuclear waste dump," he said.

The NDA defended its role and claimed safety was its priority.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs denied that there was a conflict of interest in the NDA.