Radioactive Waste to be Dumped in Ordinary Landfill Sites

It now seems that the UK government may be poised to allow nuclear power generators to be dumped in ordinary landfill sites. This is all in an attempt to reduce the £73 billion cost of decommissioning old reactors. Of course, this new move has triggered a swath of applications coming in from all around the country from big corporations trying to cash in on the potential new business. However, the new move has also managed to infuriate campaign and council groups.

The big issue of waste is now a very critical issue for the government as the stockpile of waste is now potentially much bigger than what it was previously thought. On top of this, the ministers are very keen to the idea to encourage the power industry to build a new generation of reactors.

The Cumbria county council, regarded as one of the most pronuclear authorities in the country, is among those trying to stop at least two landfill sites from being used to dump radioactive waste. This stand now undermines the government’s attempts to persuade this area to host the country’s first high level radioactive waste repository.

A cabinet member for the environment on the council, Tim Knowels, said that a very small amount of nuclear waste went into the Lillyhall landfill site in the past, but now the government is trying to vastly expand that. He went on to say that they are talking about adding tons to hundreds of thousands of tons of waste into the landfill. This is something that the council cannot see as being safe to do.

The government’s plan is to build areas under ground to hold the waste at the landfills. There are a few councils that are already thinking of being part of this. However, the deals still remain in a very early state.