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Kings Cliffe: Radioactive waste disposal approved | |
(40 minutes later) | |
Plans for low-level radioactive waste disposal to be allowed at a landfill site in Northamptonshire have been given the go-ahead by the government. | Plans for low-level radioactive waste disposal to be allowed at a landfill site in Northamptonshire have been given the go-ahead by the government. |
The decision for Kings Cliffe near Peterborough follows a two-year stand-off between the hazardous waste company Augean and campaigners. | The decision for Kings Cliffe near Peterborough follows a two-year stand-off between the hazardous waste company Augean and campaigners. |
Some 98% of people who voted in local referendums opposed the plans. | Some 98% of people who voted in local referendums opposed the plans. |
This was seen as a test case for waste companies and for the government's proclaimed localism commitment. | |
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he had accepted expert advice that planning permission for this additional waste "would not be harmful to the local community". | |
Test case | |
Kings Cliffe Waste Watchers, who have been campaigning against the plan, reacted to the decision by saying it was disappointed that the wishes of local residents had been ignored by a minister who had "declared his commitment to local decision making". | |
BBC local government correspondent Mike Sergeant says the Kings Cliffe saga has been seen as a test of the government's commitment to localism - ie allowing local communities to make decisions rather than ministers and officials in Whitehall. | |
A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said Mr Pickles had taken account of the detailed findings of the planning inspector who had held a public local inquiry which was open and transparent to the public. | |
Northamptonshire county councillors had unanimously rejected the plan in March 2010. | |
Augean says the waste, which is mainly soil and rubble from old nuclear power stations, is very low-level radioactive. It says the amount of radiation emitted will be a small percentage of what we are exposed to naturally every day. | |
The Kings Cliffe Waste Watchers protest group said the decision was not just of local importance as it was a test case for the government, meaning it could be repeated across the country. | |
It believes the site will be taking construction rubble from decommissioned nuclear plants because the existing national low-level radioactive waste repository at near the Sellafield nuclear plant at Drigg in Cumbria is filling up. | |
They say the Kings Cliffe landfill would be the first of its kind to take radioactive material from the nuclear industry, nowhere near any nuclear plant. | |
The residents of Kings Cliffe say an underground water source runs from below the landfill site and that a number of springs, pools and streams in the village could be contaminated. | |
They say their area, which is more than 90 miles from the nearest nuclear power station, has been unfairly singled out for the waste. | They say their area, which is more than 90 miles from the nearest nuclear power station, has been unfairly singled out for the waste. |
Our correspondent says the prospect of a new generation of nuclear power stations raises some difficult problems for the UK. | Our correspondent says the prospect of a new generation of nuclear power stations raises some difficult problems for the UK. |
Old reactors | |
As old reactors are taken out of service, the demolition of surrounding buildings will produce a large amount of low-level radioactive waste. | As old reactors are taken out of service, the demolition of surrounding buildings will produce a large amount of low-level radioactive waste. |
It is not always possible to dispose of this on the site of the old power station or at existing hazardous waste facilities. | It is not always possible to dispose of this on the site of the old power station or at existing hazardous waste facilities. |
Kings Cliffe Waste Watchers said: "In overturning the decision of the county council, and the wishes of all local government organs, he [Mr Pickles] has hardly demonstrated the level of commitment expected from one who is trying to steer a localism bill through Parliament. | |
"We are also surprised that the government should consider the forcible disposal of nuclear waste in an area so evidently unprepared for it a positive approach to dealing with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities." | |
A DCLG spokesman said: "This is an existing landfill site which handles hazardous waste. Having considered all the evidence and representations, the minister has accepted the expert planning advice that granting a temporary planning permission for additional waste would not be harmful to the local community." |