News : Residents offered chance to find out more about a possible higher-activity radioactive waste repository in West Cumbria
The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership will be visiting Keswick and Whitehaven over the next month to give residents a chance to find out more about the issues surrounding a possible underground waste repository.
The Partnership will have an exhibition stand at Keswick Market on Thursday, 26th May;
Visitors to the stand will be given leaflets and information on the process and will be able to fill in a comment card. People can also enter a quiz on the geological disposal issue to win an iPad.
Elaine Woodburn, current Chair of the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, said: “We will be visiting a number of towns over the coming months to give residents in the area the opportunity to find out more about this process and what its implications could be for the future of
The Government is searching for a location to build an underground repository to dispose of the nation’s higher-activity radioactive waste. As part of this process it has asked for communities to volunteer to take part in its search.
So far Copeland Borough Council, Allerdale Borough Council and Cumbria County Council have expressed an interest in finding out more about the process without making any commitment to have it in the area. Even if West Cumbria does agree to take part in the search for a site, the councils can withdraw from the process up until the point where building work could begin – likely to be a decade or more from now.
The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership is made up of all the local authorities in
Over the next few months, Partnership members will consider all of the information they have received throughout the process, including feedback from members of the public, and produce a draft report of its advice to the councils. Residents of
People can find out more about the Partnership and the issues by visiting its website at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk. The Partnership also has a Facebook page and people can follow WestCumbriaMRWS on Twitter.
Ends
For media enquiries please contact the Partnership’s communications advisor Paul Gardner or Ian Boydon 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 Council, the Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum), local trade unions, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Churches Together Council, Eden District Council, South Lakeland District Council, Carlisle City Council, the Lake District National Park Authority, the Cumbria Association of Local Councils, NuLeAF (the Nuclear Legacy in Cumbria, the Chamber of Commerce, Cumbria Tourism 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.