Cumbria rejects nuclear store plan

PLANS for a high level nuclear waste storage facility in Cumbria have been rejected.

Cumbria County Council vetoed a search for a suitable site at a meeting today.

Earlier Copeland Borough Council voted in favour.

The decision ends Cumbria’s four-year formal involvement in the process to find an underground store. Currently, radioactive waste is stored above ground in various sites around the UK, mostly at Sellafield.

Council leader Eddie Martin said: “Cabinet believes there is sufficient doubt around the suitability of West Cumbria’s geology to put an end now to the uncertainty and worry this is causing for our communities.

“Cumbria is not the best place geologically in the UK and the government’s efforts need to be focused on disposing of the waste underground in the safest place, not the easiest.

“Members have remained concerned throughout on the issue of the legal right of withdrawal if we proceed to the next stage.”

Six years ago the government invited local authorities to volunteer for a £12bn underground site. Cumbria was the last contender after Dungeness in Kent pulled out following protests from residents. Waste would be stored in underground vaults at a depth of between 200m and 1,000m.

The nuclear industry said the store would be a vote of confidence in the sector, which employs around 15,000 people in the county. But many residents, and the Lake District National Park Authority, opposed the plan.