Radioactive waste working group launches in Copeland

A working group in Copeland has been launched to examine whether it could be a suitable location for a geological disposal facility (GDF) for radioactive waste.

In a statement, Copeland Borough Council said establishing a Working Group is just the starting point for engaging with the community in a process that will take several years.

The group will engage citizens across the community to begin to understand their views, identify and propose an area for further consideration in the search for potentially suitable sites and a willing host community.

Members of the group include an independent chair along with representatives from the three interested parties, RWM and Copeland Borough Council.

Other groups and bodies could be invited to join, including representatives from the Cumbria Association of Local Councils (CALC).

The geographical area to be discussed will initially cover the whole of Copeland borough, but would exclude the Lake District National Park at the request of the local authority and the three interested parties.

The potential for underground facilities off the coast, accessed from land, will also be considered.

‘Today marks the first step in a journey of several years, to determine whether a Geological Disposal Facility is right for Copeland,’ said the independent chair of the Copeland GDF Working Group, Mark Cullinan.

‘The infrastructure investment potential represented by such a facility could be transformational for the eventual host community – both directly through the construction and operation of the GDF and also potentially significant multi-million pounds of additional investment – but, of course, it would have to be right for the area.

‘I’m delighted to be joining the Copeland GDF Working Group as its independent chair, as we begin to talk to local people to understand the issues and opportunities and listen to their views.’

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison added: ‘Most of the material that would go into the GDF is already based here in Sellafield.  A permanent place to deposit this material in Copeland would not only build on our heritage as the country’s nuclear experts, but it would also lay the ground for significant future investment in the region.

‘A GDF will be one of the biggest environmental protection projects of our lifetime. It will also be one of the largest planned infrastructure investments over the next 100 years, and the opportunity to host it here is one that we simply have to look at.

‘We need to look at a GDF in parallel with research and development into the future of nuclear materials at Sellafield and future nuclear power generation for West Cumbria, including new reactor technologies.’

Photo Credit – MetsikGarden (Pixabay)