Conclusion page 13

Here is a letter published on The Geological Society website in 2013 : "NIREX fiasco

Sir, As a former mining geologist for the Beckermet Iron Ore Mines in West Cumbria, I was surprised that Nirex even considered the Sellafield area as a possible site for nuclear waste disposal (Fallout over radwaste Geologist 23.11). All the evidence from underground iron ore mining in the mines only a few kilometres north and east of the site indicated that there was a major problem with groundwater to the south and west of the mine workings. In particular, attempts to mine at Whangs, west of Egremont had to be abandoned due to the inability to cope with the inflow of water, while at Beckermet Mine itself, westward exploration along the West Drifts encountered a fault zone carrying so much water that the drifts had to be sealed with concrete dams in order to protect the rest of the mine.

All this was well known to the West Cumbrian mining and geological community and seems to have been completely ignored by NIREX who then went on to waste £400M of taxpayers' money on an ill-considered proposal with more political than geological justification. " Dave Greenwood was British Steel Mine Geologist 1967-81

Given that the Drigg area has already been rejected by the NIREX Inquiry for the deep burial of Low and Intermediate Level nuclear wastes it is an abuse of human rights that Radioactive Waste Management are now seeking to double down on the original plan and looking to bury High Level Nuclear Waste in a deep dump and Intermediate Level wastes (previously refused for a deep dump) into shallow silos in Near Surface Disposal.

West Cumbria and the Drigg area in particular is very much seen as the line of least resistance given the decades of monetary compensation issued for the blight of hosting the UKs Low Level Waste Repository. RWMs remit is to “deliver a Geological Disposal Facility” because they say “it’s the right thing to do” with no ethical qualms about denying future generations the ability to protect themselves from leaking nuclear wastes or about producing ever hotter new nuclear wastes or keeping schtum to their “Partners” about the Near Surface Disposal plans.

The “Community Partnership” of Allerdale and Copeland with RWM is less of a partnership and more an abusive relationship.

Lakes Against Nuclear Dump’s advice to the Towns and Parishes within the “Community Partnerships” is to get out now and enable the Community to genuinely have an authentic voice with regards the future of nuclear wastes.