12 Sept (NucNet): The UK government today launched a consultation on a revised proposed process for working with communities to agree a site for a deep geological disposal facility.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change said the multi-billion pound facility would be used to dispose of higher activity radioactive waste underground. This would provide a permanent solution for the disposal of existing legacy waste, and waste from new nuclear power stations, DECC said.
Under the new approach, communities would be provided with more information at an earlier stage in the process. A positive community-wide demonstration of support would be required before a community could host a disposal facility, and communities would have an on-going right to withdraw from the process.
The consultation follows a call for evidence that ran from May to June 2013.
The move follows a setback earlier this year when a local authority in west Cumbria, northwest England, voted to withdraw from the siting process.
Another local authority, Copeland Borough Council, voted in favour of remaining in the process, but it had previously been agreed that both authorities needed to vote in favour in order for the process to continue.
The government said today it remains “wholly committed” to geological disposal as the right policy for the management of higher-activity radioactive waste, and continues to favour a site selection process based on working in partnership with interested local communities.
The consultation is online:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/geological-disposal-facility-siting-process-review
