FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Voluntarism and the role of the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership:

  1. What is the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership?

  2. Why should we even consider having a geological disposal facility here?

  3. Which other areas of the UK have expressed an interest in this process?

  4. How is this different to the Nirex process in the 1990s?

  5. What’s happening next?

  6. What will the British Geological Survey screening involve?

  7. Will the BGS study show potential sites for a geological disposal facility?

  8. How would safety be ensured if the facility does go ahead?

  9. What’s in it for the community?

  10. Who will take the decision whether or not to participate in the next stage of

  this process?

  11. Will the community where the facility would be sited have a veto?

  12. What if we decide not to participate? Could this area then be forced to host

  a facility?

Geological Disposal:

  13. What is the waste that would be included in the geological disposal facility?

  14. How long is the waste active and dangerous for?

  15. Why is geological disposal the preferred option?

  16. How would a geological disposal facility stop radioactivity returning to the

  surface?

  17. When would the facility be built?

  18. How big would a facility be? What would it look like?

  19. Is this connected with plans to build new nuclear power stations?

  20. How does this differ from very low level waste going to landfill?

Further information about geological disposal and the siting process can be found by reading the Government FAQs and also the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's FAQs.