The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

The opportunity remains open for communities to get involved in the voluntarist and partnership process to consider the benefits and impacts of hosting a geological disposal facility.

In 2003, the UK Government set up the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) to consider the question of how higher activity waste will be managed in the long-term.In July 2006, CoRWM recommended geological disposal as the best available solution, with safe and secure interim storage in the meantime, and ongoing research and development to support its optimised implementation. This is the internationally preferred approach, being taken forward by countries including Finland, France, Sweden and the USA.

In 2008, Government published the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely White Paper, which set out a framework for the future implementation of geological disposal(1).

Construction and operation of a geological disposal facility, or GDF, will be a multi-billion pound project, comparable in size and scope to that of building the Channel Tunnel. It will provide skilled employment for hundreds of people over many decades. It will likely involve investments in local infrastructure, and could result in wider benefits to local communities around a facility.

Siting a facility also raises potential impacts, some of them intergenerational, and these will need to be addressed over the long timescales involved. Government and the NDA's delivery organisation are keen to explore with potential host communities the local needs that would arise from hosting a GDF, and how a disposal facility can be implemented so that it develops their social and economic wellbeing.

Government is pursuing a voluntarist approach to siting a GDF. Communities are invited to express an interest in finding out more about what hosting a GDF would mean for their community in the long-term. This process of engagement is staged, and tailored to local circumstances. The early stages allow people to find out more without any commitment attached - a clear right of withdrawal exists until much later in the process.

At the moment, three local authorities – Allerdale and Copeland Borough Councils and Cumbria County Council – have expressed an interest in finding out more about hosting a geological disposal facility. They have carried out extensive local public and stakeholder engagement, wholly funded by Government, to explore the issues of importance to them. The local Partnership organisation formed to carry out this work is currently consulting on its findings and will report to the local authorities to inform their decision on whether to participate in the next stage of the process.

It must be made clear that no decisions have been taken in West Cumbria on proceeding to the next stage and, even if they were, the right of withdrawal would continue into the later stages.

The opportunity for other parts of the country to get involved in the siting process, without commitment, is very much still open and more information can be obtained directly from DECC at: john.dalton@decc.gsi.gov.uk

(1) For England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Scottish Government had developed a different policy for waste in Scotland.