Allerdale & Copeland and Carlisle Green Party
PRESS RELEASE
Dated: 10th January 2022
Subject: GDF in West Cumbria
OUT OF MIND
This is a joint statement by both Allerdale & Copeland and Carlisle Green Parties in opposition to the proposed development of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) in West Cumbria. It is our view that such a development is potentially and irredeemably unsafe.
Both Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils have expressed an interest in hosting a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) and have set up working groups to progress this idea. The Working Group in Copeland has identified two community partnerships “to investigate whether the areas will be suitable to host a GDF” and Allerdale has defined a “search area” that includes much of Allerdale apart from the National Park.
Over the last year we have witnessed local residents being inundated with glossy PR material about the ‘advantages’ hosting a GDF will bring to the local community including the promise of money and jobs. Exhibitions have been held and advertisements have been taken out in the local press. This extensive PR campaign has also invaded our schools as proponents have even been round local schools with a Lego GDF for the children to build!
Secretary to Allerdale and Copeland Green Party, Jill Perry, said: “We are told that the process will be community-led but there is no evidence of community support in any of the areas of search. All we know is that councillors are in favour.”
Local communities are being told that a “GDF will only be built if it can be shown that it is safe to people and the environment” (Allerdale GDF Working Group) but the key problem is – it can’t. We know that high level nuclear waste has a lifespan of millions of years. If the proposed GDF goes ahead highly radioactive nuclear waste will buried under Cumbrian soil and permanently sealed in containers. There are no guarantees that this waste will remain adequately sealed over such a colossal time period – resistant to water ingress and movements of the earth.
The next stage of the process will take 10 – 15 years, while communities across West Cumbria suffer the blight of potentially hosting a nuclear waste dump and no possibility of withdrawing themselves from the process. Jill Perry added “We are gazing blindly into the mouth of a Venus Fly Trap”.
Nuclear waste is not just a problem for Cumbria, but also for the whole world. We have a responsibility to future generations to look into alternative solutions today. Nuclear scientists across the planet are currently working on better, less risky and less environmentally damaging options to store nuclear waste. The Green Party is calling on our local councils not to rush into a decision that could put millions of lives at risk.
The Geological Disposal Facility is a misnomer. It is not possible to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. The best you can do is to store it and let it degrade somewhere where it can be monitored and kept visible and safe over the years, not buried out of sight, out of reach and out of mind.
ENDS
Contacts for further information
Keith Fitton: Chair Allerdale and Copeland Green Party
E-mail: co-ordinator@allerdalecopeland.greenparty.org.uk
Phone: 07901 592764
Gavin Hawkton: Chair of Carlisle & District Green Party
Email: contact@carlisle.greenparty.org.uk
Phone: 07511 899234