The UK government has published its framework policy for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste, including details of how it intends to work with interested communities to site a geological disposal facility. A long-term geological repository is the UK favored method for management of its intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste, with a site selection process centered on community voluntarism. Two communities in Cumbria - Copeland and Allerdale - had expressed interest in hosting a repository, but the selection process ground to a halt in January 2013 when the local county council voted against moving to the next stage of the process.
They are setting out their 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, said Ed Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary. The government released a White Paper yesterday that updates and replaces one from 2008 using input from a public consultation conducted last year on the site-selection process. It also takes account of lessons learned during the previous siting process. According to the White Paper, Implementing Geological Disposal, the government favors a voluntarism approach, working alongside communities that are willing to take part in the siting process. It sets out a number of initial actions to be undertaken by the government itself and by Nuclear Decommissioning Authority subsidiary Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM), the developer of the facility.
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