Last updated at 16:43, Monday, 11 March 2013

CUMBRIA will continue to play an important role in the future of Britain’s nuclear clean-up, a minister has said.

In a letter to Councillor Eddie Martin, leader of Cumbria County Council, Baroness Verma, parliamentary under secretary of state at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, says Cumbria will continue to play a central role in the nuclear industry and the government would welcome the views of Cumbria County Council in future discussions.

Baroness Verma used the letter to point to the results of an opinion poll that showed the majority of residents supported taking the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership’s search process forward.

Of those surveyed, 68 per cent of Copeland residents, 51 per cent of Allerdale residents, and 50 per cent of the “rest of Cumbria” were in favour of proceeding to the next stage of the siting process.

She said: “The government remains committed to implementing geological disposal as the means of managing higher-activity radioactive waste in the long term, and of proceeding with the MRWS process elsewhere in the country.

“Although the current site selection process for a geological disposal facility has now ended in west Cumbria, I am keen that we should continue to work together constructively on nuclear decommissioning, and more widely in nuclear and energy policy, in which Cumbria will continue to play an important role.’’

In January, the executives of Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale borough councils met to cast their vote on whether to progress to stage four of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely process.

Copeland’s executive recorded a ‘yes’ vote, but the county council’s cabinet opted to pull out of the process.

In a letter to the government at the time, Councillor Martin blamed “too much uncertainty” for the county council’s decision.

First published at 16:12, Monday, 11 March 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk