Criterion 5: The siting process
This criterion was about whether the Partnership could be confident that the siting process is sufficiently robust and flexible to meet the needs of local people.
If a decision to take part in the search for somewhere to put a repository was to be taken, there would be a series of steps to narrow down from possibly suitable areas to specific sites.
This would include desk-based assessments of criteria such as: geology; the impact on the environment and the landscape; and transport.
These assessments would help decide where to focus more detailed geological investigations including boreholes.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority says that the search for a suitable site (Stages 4 and 5) would take about 15 years.
The Partnershp advised that a new partnership of local organisations and community representatives should be set up to oversee the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s technical work and make sure local people would be fully involved in the process.
The Government says a repository will only be put in an area where people are willing to have it. At certain points this new partnership would therefore need to use a method, such as an opinion poll, to find out what the public thinks.
Any councils that decide to take part in the search for a site would make the formal decisions about things like which areas to put forward for assessments and investigations, and ultimately which sites, if any, should be put forward for a repository, based on advice from the new partnership.
Criterion 6: Public and stakeholder views
> Back to the 'What happened' page