On 31 July 2008, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ruled that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was entitled to refuse to disclose a draft report on radioactive waste storage methods under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) (see ICO decision).

The ICO agreed with the NDA that the draft report represented a dated review and that the final report, which is already in the public domain, provides a more current guide to the NDA's current position on radioactive waste storage methods. The ICO also agreed that the draft report amounted to internal staff communications and that disclosure in this case was likely to harm the public interest, in particular as it could lead to researchers being less willing to be open and honest in other areas of scientific research and could undermine future reports.

However, the ICO pointed out that, in general, it does not normally accept that civil servants would be easily deterred from offering candid opinions as a result of fear of disclosure (see for example, Legal update, Government's internal communications on environmental policy are disclosable to the public). And that, in some cases, disclosure of information containing draft or early versions of reports could be released without any significant harm to the NDA's processes. These types of decision need to be made on a case by case basis.

For further information on the EIR, see: