Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2013
CUMBRIA, England — On January 30, the Cumbria County Council decided 7-3 against moving forward with a geological survey process that would have further explored the area’s potential for hosting a long-term underground repository for Britain’s waste reactor fuel and other highly radioactive
waste. Over 32,000 people signed a petition to the Council arguing that the dump should not be sited in their scenic Lake District, and organizers are celebrating the vote as a blow to federal plans for new reactors nationwide. Government officials have acknowledged that finding a long-term solution to the problem of radioactive waste is necessary before new nuclear reactors can be built in Britain, and their approach thus far has been to rely on the willingness of local communities to volunteer their areas for consideration. Cumbria, which is home to the Sellafield waste processing facility, was the only locality that stepped forward. Though the prospect of the $18.2 billion storage site comes with the potential benefit of 1,000 new jobs, no other area has so far shown interest. Until a more suitable storage site is found, 75% of the country’s radioactive waste remains in temporary above-ground containers at the Sellafield facility. — The Guardian, Jan. 30; SkyNews, Jan. 30; BBC News, Feb. 1, 2013
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