overview> introduction
Last year the UK Government launched a search for an engineered, underground site that will be the final home for our higher activity radioactive wastes. The Government is inviting communities across the country to talk to them about potentially hosting this site that will ultimately be called the 'Geological Disposal Facility'.
This approach was set out in the “Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS): A Framework for Geological Disposal” White Paper.
In this, the Government said three things:
• It doesn't want to force the facility upon a community: it is looking for volunteers
• Just talking to Government about having this site does not commit anyone to it
• It will be a long time until any construction starts, and during that time participating communities will have the right to withdraw from the process.
About seventy percent of the country’s nuclear waste is already at Sellafield, and because of this, Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council have started talking to Government about the search for a site.
This is because wherever a site is chosen, the waste will have to be transported from Sellafield and is likely to affect us: we should therefore be involved from the start. At this stage we have only committed to talking to Government: we can withdraw at any time.
We want you to know what we are doing and what work we want to do before deciding whether to move to the next stage.
This website is just one of the ways you can find out about this. You can also get involved or look out for information in Allerdale Outlook, Copeland Matters and Your Cumbria magazines in the future. You can even come and observe our meetings to see what we're talking about.
freephone - 0800 048 8912 email - contact@westcumbriamrws.org.uk
