FAQs

6. What will the British Geological Survey screening involve?

Before a community can make a decision about whether or not to participate in the process of finding a site for an underground geological disposal facility, the Government requires the area to be screened to take out areas that are clearly geologically unsuitable and therefore make sure that there are places that could be geologically suitable for such a facility. There is obviously no point any community spending too much time considering this issue if there are no areas where the facility could be built.

Therefore the British Geological Survey (BGS) has been asked to look at the information that is already available about the geology of the whole of Allerdale and Copeland and up to 5 km offshore, and screen out any areas that clearly have unsuitable geology for a disposal facility, as outlined in the Government’s MRWS White Paper

The screening process set out in the Government’s MRWS White Paper was informed by national consultation on the White Paper and the work of two independent expert groups which considered what geological criteria should be used to undertake this screening.

The screening will be led by the BGS Chief Geologist England and carried out by a team of experienced BGS geoscientists. It will be a ‘desk based study’ only. This means that it will only use readily available information. It will not be ‘in depth’ and there will be no consideration of non-geological factors.

This work will not provide any indication where a facility might eventually located. It is simply intended to avoid unnecessary work in areas which are clearly unsuitable on geological grounds.

It is also important to be aware that this work will only identify areas which are unsuitable for an underground facility. It does not affect where the surface facility could be located. The surface facility could be a number of miles from the underground facility and could therefore be located in an area that is found to be unsuitable for the underground facility.

The BGS study will therefore simply eliminate from the process any areas that are obviously geologically unsuitable for the underground facility. More rigorous assessment of a wide range of criteria will only be undertaken if West Cumbria then makes a ‘decision to participate’.

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