Time to deal with nuclear waste : Cumbria County Council

Cumbria has one of the longest relationships with the nuclear industry of any place in the world. It was home to the UK’s first nuclear power station, is now a world-renowned leader for nuclear clean up, and is at the centre of Government plans to develop a new generation of nuclear stations in the UK. With other renewable energy projects in the pipeline, Cumbria’s West Coast is rightly branded Britain’s Energy Coast.

But until now, one issue has not been dealt with, and that’s what to do in the long term with our higher level radioactive waste. About 70% of it is currently stored at Sellafield.

Cumbria County Council, together with Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils, is now exploring with Government whether West Cumbria would be a suitable place to dispose of this nuclear waste deep underground. The process is voluntary and the county council can withdraw at any stage before construction starts.

This means sitting down and talking to Government, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (who will do the work), and safety regulators, to gather information so that a full public consultation in West Cumbria can take place, probably towards this autumn.

Before asking people in West Cumbria what they think about plans to dispose of this toxic waste there will first be a technical survey to remove areas that are known to be unsuitable for development. The consultation will then be about whether areas of West Cumbria that might be suitable should go forward for investigation. If public consultation shows there is no support for this work, then the three councils – Cumbria, Copeland and Allerdale will pull out. If there is support, then the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will be asked to search for a suitable site.

Cllr Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member responsible for nuclear issues, said: “Nobody is rushing into anything, but it is perfectly right for the county council to be talking to both Government and local people on the best long-term solution for a problem that we know we have to address.”

The truth: All that the three councils have done is said they want to talk to Government about this. The councils have the right to withdraw from the siting process at any time before a decision is made and this will be a long, meticulous process. 70% of the country’s high-level radioactive waste is already stored in Cumbria, so whether it needs to be transported somewhere else, stay where it is, or is buried underground here, it’s important that your local councils are talking to Government.

What you may have heard: Cumbria is an unsuitable place to have an underground nuclear waste store because of its geology.

The truth: This is precisely the sort of fact-finding work into long-term environmental safety which still needs to be carried out. The Government has set aside more than a decade between deciding what could be a suitable candidate site and announcing the site it wants to proceed with.

What you may have heard: The reason why Cumbria is considering this is because of a big bribe from the Government.

The truth: There’s no indication yet of what levels of community investment will be made available. But the county council welcomes the fact that communities are being invited to work in partnership to solve this national environmental problem rather than having a ‘dump’ imposed on them from above.

In depth information about the Government programme can be found at: defra.gov.uk.mrws

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority timeframe

2012 – Identify two sites to be candidates to host a geological disposal facility

2014-2015 – Conduct thorough investigations of candidate sites

2025 – Announce the preferred site and begin construction programme

2040 – Put the first batch of nuclear waste in the disposal facility

2075 – Put the first batch of spent nuclear fuel in the disposal facility