nuclear-news

Cumbria’s huge report on proposal for underground nuclear waste bunker

NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL: THE DEFINITIVE REPORT CONDENSED, in-cumbria by Ellis Butcher , 24 August 2012 The experts call it a “geological disposal facility”. Opponents call it a “nuke dump”. They all agree it’ll contain “high level and intermediate nuclear waste”.

A history-making vote takes place on October 11 which represents one of Cumbria’s most important ever nuclear decisions.A trio of councils, involving hundreds of community leaders, decides on whether West Cumbria takes part in a search to site a massive underground bunker containing the UK’s most toxic nuclear waste. Business Editor Ellis Butcher looks at the definitive report facing them.

This is the skull and crossbones stuff. The worst from the nuclear process, the residue from the bowels of nuclear reactors which lasts for thousands and thousands of years….. This issue has occupied the 17-member West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership (WCMRWSP) for three years…. THE FINAL REPORT

The partnership’s final report – a hefty 270-page plus document neither proposes a recommendation for councils to follow, nor suggests an intended site. That was never its brief.

Instead it has overseen the complex evidence-gathering process. It was shared with about 2,300 people and organisations.

The final was signed off and is now the reference point for the issue.  Recently, it was released into the custody of decision-makers at Cumbria County Council, Allerdale and Copeland.

Between now and October, staff at these authorities and elected-representatives will be pouring over every single line with highlighter pens to inform what they stand up and say in a few weeks.

The report is available to download from the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely website…..

West Cumbria’s long-standing position as a UK and world nuclear centre means the proposal cannot be easily politically disregarded. If not here, where? If not us, who?

The economic arguments in a depressed economy will weigh heavily towards a yes vote, while the tantalising prospect of more multi-million pound Government funding being funnelled directly into west Cumbria could prove hard to turn down.

GET OUT CLAUSES

Irrespective of a yes or no, the authorities can still walk away from the whole idea at any of the next three stages still to go. A yes doesn’t mean commitment to build.

Diggers will not be breaking ground the next day. It simply commits the area to the next stage.

Eventually, this stage will focus on more comprehensive testing of the “geological suitability” of west Cumbria to house such a facility and radioactive materials underground.

Essentially, testing the ground for compatibility…

PARTNERSHIP MEMBERS

Allerdale Borough Council, Barrow Borough Council, Carlisle City Council, Copeland Borough Council, Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, Churches Together in Cumbria, Cumbria Association of Local Councils (CALC), Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Tourism, Eden District Council, GMB union, Lake District National Park Authority, National Farmers Union, Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum, Prospect union, South Lakeland District Council, Unite union
Weblinks: www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk / www.mrwsold.org.uk /www.cumbria.gov.uk / www.copelandbc.gov.uk /www.allerdale.gov.uk

http://www.in-cumbria.com/nuclear-waste-disposal-the-definitive-report-condensed-1.988759?referrerPath=news-archive

August 25, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, wastes