Son of MRWS - hunt resumes for solution for Nuclear Waste

The government has publisehd a new White Paper on the long-term solution for nuclear waste, which reiterates than any such proposal must have local public support.
 
A “test of public opinion that demonstrates community support” will take place ahead of any final decision on the location of a geological disposal facility (GDF).

The white paper says that no one tier of local authority will be able to veto the plans against the wishes of others – and more information on possible locations will be provided earlier in the process.

The plans laid out by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) include:

* a payment of £1million per year for up to five years will be made to councils to enter initial formal discussions, rising to £2.5million per year as the design/planning process begins

* national geological screening will take place before 2016 so that possible locations can be ruled in or out early in the process.

* communities will have the right of withdrawal from discussions at any stage before the test of public support

 
* community benefits “might include” improved education and skills investment, transport infrastructure and recreation facilities.

Initial discussions are set to take place between now and 2016, with formal discussions to follow for communities that volunteer. Energy secretary Ed Davey said that:

“Geological disposal provides the secure, long-term solution we need to deal with the radioactive waste we have been creating for more than 60 years, and we can learn from the experiences of other countries who are also doing this.

“Building and running a GDF will be a multi-billion-pound infrastructure project, which will bring significant economic benefits to a community.

“We’re setting out our plan to find a suitable site, based on a fundamental principle of listening to people, to make sure we have the right process in place.

“The area that eventually hosts a GDF will benefit from significant investment in the community and hundreds of skilled jobs for decades to come.”

DECC says that: “All levels of local government will have to have a voice but we are keen that no one individual level will have an absolute veto.”

I think that is the right decision but community support in the area which hosts a repository must be proven. I think a local referendum should be held and require a "Yes" vote in the relevant district before a repository can go ahead.

(The image above is taken from the government White Paper, reproduced in a Whitehaven News article giving more details of the proposals which can be read here.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
“We’re setting out our plan to find a suitable site, based on a fundamental principle of listening to people"

Not the Geology then.
6:24 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
Listening to people is not inconsistent with also paying attention to the geology.

I thought it was crystal clear from the White Paper, from the Whitehaven News article which I referenced, and from my own post here that DECC intends to consider both.

As of course they should.
10:06 pm
Jim said…
The fact of the matter on a repository is this.
Its not that a repository would be built and then waste would be produced to store in it.
Its that we have the waste right now and we need somewhere safer to put it.
2:13 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more