News : Cumbrians have their say on nuclear waste disposal
Cumbrian residents have been giving their views on a possible geological disposal facility for higher activity radioactive waste in Copeland or Allerdale.
Nearly 500 people took part in drop-in events held at locations up and down
The events were arranged by the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership as part of a communications and engagement programme which also includes a series of discussion groups and opportunities for people to provide views by writing, email and on Facebook.
The Partnership is made up of all the local authorities in
It has been set up to advise Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council about whether
Specialists from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and the British Geological Survey were on hand in the events to answer questions about Government policy as well as technical issues. The Environment Agency also attended to represent the organisations that would regulate a repository.
Elaine Woodburn, a member of the Partnership and the Leader of Copeland Borough Council, said: “We would like to thank all the people who came out to the drop-in sessions over the past couple of weeks. The information from these events will be really useful to the Partnership in helping us to gauge people’s opinions – both positive and negative – on a range of difficult questions.
“The Government has said a repository will only be built in an area where it is supported by the local community so it is important for everyone to get involved and have their say.
Robert Morris Eyton attended two of the events in his role as the National Farmers Union representative on the Partnership. He said: “It’s very important for members of the Partnership to hear what people think about the issues involved.
“There are still plenty of opportunities for people to find out more and give us their views during this part of the process. A repository would obviously affect people living in this area for many generations into the future so it’s important for everyone to find out about the issues and come to their own views.”
Discussion packs with a DVD have been produced to provide a good way for small groups of people to sit together and talk through some of the issues. These are available by calling a freephone number: 0800 048 8912 or emailing contact@westcumbriamrws.org.uk
More than 100 discussion groups have already been arranged by organisations across the area. Connexions, the advice organisation for 13 to 19 year olds, is running the first in a series of discussion pack sessions with young people in the coming week.
Discussion groups are also being organised for unemployed people by the Trades Hall Centre; the Cumbria Farmer Network; Cumbria CVS; AWAZ, which works with ethnic minorities; and the Cumbria Rural Forum, ACT.
Over 100 additional discussion packs have been requested by individuals and groups across the county.
The packs include some questions the Partnership is looking for the public to comment on at this stage in its discussions. These include what impacts people think a repository might have, what sort of benefits they would want to see if the repository came to the area and how local people should be involved in making the key decisions.
More information is available on the Partnership’s website at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk. The Partnership also has a Facebook page and you can follow @westcumbriamrws on Twitter.
Once the Partnership has produced a report with its draft recommendations there will be another chance later next year for people in the county to have their say.
Ends
For media enquiries please contact the Partnership’s communications advisor Paul Gardner at Osprey Communications on 01524-782086 or 077667906561
- In addition to Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council there are a range of other organisations making up the partnership, including Barrow Borough Advisory Forum), local trade unions, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Churches Together Council, Eden District Council, South Lakeland District Council, the Lake District National Park Authority, the Cumbria Association of Local Councils, NuLeAF (the Nuclear Legacy in Cumbria, the Chamber of Commerce and the West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group.
- A number of other organisations attend as ‘observing members’ including Government departments, the Isle of Man Government, CoRWM (Committee on Radioactive Waste Management), the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the safety and environment regulators.
- The Government is looking for a community in the
- Taking part in discussions with the Government does not commit the Cumbrian authorities to hosting a deep geological repository and they can withdraw from the process at any point up until a time when construction would begin – estimated to be more than 10 years from now.