News : West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership meeting postponed
The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership has postponed its next meeting, which was due to be held at the Hunday Manor Hotel near Workington on 29th September.
The Partnership has delayed the meeting because the Government has not yet agreed the funding for its work in the current financial year. The money is needed for the Partnership to hold discussions and carry out research in order to make a judgement about whether there should be a decision to enter into a siting process for a geological disposal facility for higher activity radioactive wastes and to ensure the public are fully informed and involved.
The Government has decided to look for a community to volunteer to have a deep underground disposal facility. Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council decided to take part in early discussions about this process on behalf of West Cumbria because a large amount of the country’s radioactive waste is already stored in the area at Sellafield.
The Councils set up the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership to help them make an informed decision and to ensure that people living in the area are fully involved. The Partnership includes a wide range of community organisations.
The White Paper on Managing Radioactive Waste Safely said communities that agree to look at this would receive an Engagement Package from Government. This is intended to cover things such as public information; liaison, consultation and engagement; salaries and associated costs of Partnership staff; organisational costs of running the Partnership and working groups; and commissioning specialist advice.
Councillor Tim Knowles, the Chairman of the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership and the Cumbria County Council Cabinet member responsible for environment, says: “A repository for higher level radioactive waste would affect people in this area for many generations to come. The decisions this community needs to make are therefore some of the most difficult and complex any community in Britain has had to make in recent memory.
“We need to properly consider all the issues and ensure that people in the area understand what is being discussed and have opportunities to ask questions and express their views. That is why we have been planning a significant programme of work to communicate with and involve people in West Cumbria and the rest of the county.
"It is obviously important to ensure there is certainty about the level of funding that will be available from Government before continuing this work.”
The Partnership is seeking a meeting with the Energy Minister, Charles Hendry, to agree the level of funding.
The Government had been due to publish the results of a basic geological study of West Cumbria at the meeting. As the Partnership meeting has been postponed, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has also decided to delay the publication of the study by the British Geological Survey.
Information about the Partnership is available at www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk.
For media enquiries please contact the Partnership’s Communications Adviser Paul Gardner at Osprey Communications on 01524-782086 or 07766-906561
Notes to editors
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, Eden District Council, South Lakeland District Council, the Lake District National Park Authority, the Cumbria Association of Local Councils, NuLeAF (the Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum), local trade unions, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), Churches Together 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.