02/03/04 - Cumbria says no to Dounreay's Waste

Cumbria County Council has issued a formal objection to plans by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) to transport nuclear waste from Dounreay in Scotland for longterm storage at Sellafield and Drigg in West Cumbria. The objection is supported by all political groups and agreed by the Council’s all-party Nuclear Decommissioning Working Group. Rex Toft, Chairman of the Group and Leader of the Council has used emergency powers to issue the objection on behalf of the Council, which forms the Council’s formal response to consultation by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. 

The proposal is to transport solid Low Level Nuclear Waste from Dounreay to BNFL at Sellafield and Drigg. The waste comes from operational and decommissioning activities on site at Dounreay. The Council believes waste generated at Dounreay should be stored there and that the proposal takes no account of the longterm issues or an overview of nuclear waste storage in the UK.

In a joint statement the three political Group Leaders; Rex Toft, Conservative; Mike Ash, Liberal Democrat and Stewart Young, Labour say:

“The application by the UKAEA to transport nuclear waste from Dounreay to Sellafield because Dounreay's nuclear waste disposal facility is almost exhausted is not acceptable to this county.

Nuclear waste should be stored where it is created. If the Dounreay site is exhausted then the UKAEA should make plans either to extend it or find another nearby site. Taking the easy way out and bringing it to Cumbria is not the answer. Dounreay should look after its own nuclear waste.

The UKAEA cannot expect Cumbria to accept ever-increasing quantities of nuclear waste being stored at Sellafield, especially at a time when big job cuts are being threatened. This proposal will do nothing to secure future employment on the site and nothing to help the economic regeneration of the local area.”

The Council remains concerned that piecemeal decision making places a higher than necessary burden on Sellafield and Cumbria with little or scant regard for the cumulative impact increased storage will have.