Intermediate Nuclear Waste to be stored at Dungeness

10.12.22am GMT Tue 5th Jan 2010

Waste from the decommissioning of Dungeness A Nuclear Power station on Romney Marsh is to be stored on site. Storage is going to be built, on site, for intermediate waste to be stored from the decommissioning, and will no longer taken to Sellafield for storage.

The waste, (solids and liquids), emanate from in and around the reactor and will remain radioactive for up to 300 years. The reactor itself is classed as intermediate level waste and will be the last bit to be removed, with no time scale yet agreed for that phase of the work. Over 40 years after the building of Dungeness A, the government still does not know what to do with the waste. It is now going to stay on site, until a site can be found.

Shepway Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader, Lynne Beaumont, said:

"I am astonished at this decision to store intermediate nuclear waste on Romney Marsh. Dungeness will become a nuclear dumping ground. One of the most beautiful parts of our Country has been designated for the storage of nuclear waste.

"We have always known that low level waste was going to be stored at Dungeness after decommissioning, but intermediate waste is completely different. How many local people are aware of this? How do they feel about whats happening on their doorstep, without being told. How many people will feel safe in their beds when they know this waste is being stored just down the road?

"The real cost of nuclear power is coming home."