Radioactive Waste Management:

We Must Have the Courage to Confront This Issue

Previous

  Next

Last week in the House of Commons, I called upon the Government to accept the CORWM recommendations should they follow its draft recommendations published earlier this year. I now urge government to accept these final recommendations.
The Government should be commended for its creation of CORWM. This body has now produced the definitive framework for the effective production and implementation of a long term radioactive waste management policy. This was long overdue.
Government should now move to produce a detailed policy based upon these recommendations and in identifying a suitable geological site and a willing host community.
No other community within the UK has the same interest as Copeland in this policy area. As the current host for 70% of the nation's intermediate level wastes and all of its high level wastes it is essential that Copeland Borough Council enters into a dialogue with the top levels of Government without delay. I have secured a commitment from the Department of the Environment to enter into such a dialogue with Copeland and other nuclear communities.
To be absolutely clear, Copeland will be uppermost in most people's thoughts given the failed Nirex project in the 1990s and the current location of the country's wastes. It is now for the people of Copeland to decide whether or not we would wish to become a volunteer candidate. It is essential that we make this decision; we must determine our own future and not have it determined for us by remote civil servants in Whitehall. Conceivably, there are enormous environmental, social and economic benefits to be gained from volunteering. Whether or not our community does volunteer, this policy will have profound implications for Copeland in terms of waste packaging, transportation and other related areas of nuclear activity.
Consequently, we should enter into a dialogue now so that we can consider the full ramifications of a decision to volunteer or not - the sooner we seek an involvement in this process, the more influence we will have.
Above anything else, environmental safety is an absolute - this must be the beginning, middle and end of whatever decision we make. This is not just a decision for our community today, but for our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and generations of West Cumbrians for thousands of years to come. We should reach our decision on our terms, based purely upon our considerations, not the convenience of the nuclear industry, Government or other agencies.
The decision over whether or not a repository is needed has now been taken. The debate over whether or not our community wishes to act as a host for such a facility has not. The sooner we enter into dialogue with Government, the sooner we will be able to hold a mature, informed debate. There is nothing to be gained nationally or locally from avoiding this issue any longer. We must have the courage to confront this issue - we owe it to ourselves and to future generations.