A long-running search to find a site for an underground nuclear waste store in the UK has聽received a boost today as a community in north-west England took the first formal step towards hosting the 拢12 billion facility.
Two years ago, the UK and Welsh governments for an area willing to voluntarily host a geological disposal facility, a long-term underground store for half a century鈥檚 worth of radioactive waste. Today, the waste sits at about 30 sites across England, Scotland and Wales, most of it above ground at Sellafield in Cumbria, at a facility that is overcrowded and ageing.
The borough of Copeland in Cumbria has now made itself the first named community to consider hosting the facility, by establishing a to explore the idea.
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The location isn鈥檛 a huge surprise. The area has long had links to the nuclear industry: Sellafield, a large nuclear plant, is in the north of the borough, and Copeland was the last local authority in the running during in 2013. In July, Copeland borough council 鈥� part of the working group, along with local individuals 鈥� to begin discussions with Radioactive Waste Management (RWM), the government body handling the search for a site.
National park
Previous concerns over the impact on the Lake District National Park, much of which falls in Copeland, mean that this time the park has been excluded for above and below ground storage. Beyond that, the facility could be sited anywhere in the borough, including under the seabed up to 22 kilometres off the coast.
There is no guarantee that local people or RWM will agree on a suitable site, but the formation of a working group is an important boost to the UK鈥檚 attempts to deal with its nuclear waste legacy. While other countries such as Sweden and Finland have made progress on building their own underground facilities, and , the UK鈥檚 search had stalled. Scotland has ruled itself out as a location for deep underground storage.
One attraction for a host community in England and Wales is investment in local infrastructure and jobs. If the working group proceeds to the next stage of the process, it would receive payments of 拢1 million a year, rising later to 拢2.5 million a year.
Copeland borough councillor David Moore says the process this time should be different from the one in 2013. 鈥淥ne of things we did right away was remove the national park. That鈥檚 not appropriate for it,鈥� he says. Rules have also been changed so the county council can鈥檛 block the project as it did in 2013.
But Moore says the scheme will not be foisted on local people without their input, and points out the working group has a right to withdraw from the process. The hard work now will be in informing people about what a geological disposal facility is. 鈥淎ny community might feel they don鈥檛 want it,鈥� says Moore. Later down the line, working out the most suitable geology for its location will be the next big step.
Decades away
Neil Hyatt, a member of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management that advises the UK government, says: 鈥淭his is the next step along the road to siting the geological disposal facility for managing the UK鈥檚 radioactive waste. The working group will have a critical role to play in identifying the search area in which a facility could be located and also bringing together the community and interested parties.鈥�
The process of building the facility would take decades, before the complex task of moving waste into it. Several sources told 快猫短视频 that more working groups are expected to announce their interest either later this year, or early in 2021.
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