When I started work in Carlisle I was told that one of the big issues for Cumbria was the storage of nuclear waste at Sellafield.

It was proposed that an underground repository should be built in the west of the county to store it. I was surprised to hear that the then storage arrangements were less than suitable.

Sellafield nuclear power station was a major employer in west Cumbria however opponents felt that the geology of the area was too unstable to store the hazardous waste safely.

And there was a surprise in store at a crunch meeting of Cumbria County Council’s cabinet when members voted against pursuing the project.

My colleague Julian Whittle, who I first worked with in Barrow-in-Furness 20 years earlier and had been the political editor before me, covered the meeting because he was more knowledgable about the issue but I was also there helping out. There was a joint byline on the resulting front page splash.

And this was one of the follow up articles that followed covering the resulting fallout – pun intended.

Personally speaking it might have been better to store it under the Houses of Parliament.

Emergency meeting to thrash out options after ‘No’ vote

SELLAFIELD workers were today holding an emergency meeting to find a way forward in the wake of yesterday’s No vote.

Members of Cumbria County Council’s cabinet took the decision to withdraw from stage four of the process to identify a suitable site for a proposed underground storage facility for nuclear waste in the west of the county.

Sellafield workers had the opportunity to ask questions of the cabinet at the beginning of the debate and they had hoped for a positive vote to help secure jobs.

As well as the county council two district authorities, Allerdale and Copeland, had also previously expressed an interest – with Copeland and Allerdale voting in favour of the move to the next stage yesterday – but the county vote effectively scuppered the project’s progress.

Joe Murdoch, a convenor with the GMB union, said the emergency meeting was due to start at 8am today and members would discuss their options and where they go from here.

He added: “We are very disappointed obviously. We will have an emergency meeting to discuss what our positions are.

“We will talk to the powers that be to find out if there is a possibility to carry on with Copeland – Copeland wanted it.”

Steve Nicholson, of the Sellafield Workers’ Campaign, said the decision had dashed hopes of a new nuclear power plant in west Cumbria, which had the potential to bring thousands of jobs.

He said: “That’s gone now. There will be no new build. Page 99 of the Energy Act says that if there’s no new solution for dealing with the waste, then there is no new build.”

Mr Nicholson was one of four members of the Sellafield Workers’ campaign to address county councillors ahead of the crucial vote.

He added: “I’m obviously disappointed by their decision. The whole Sellafield workforce are really disappointed with the continued drift and delay.

“We have had 30 years of delay in dealing with nuclear waste. We will be pushing for a stable solution. We will have a campaign. This issue won’t go away.”

Kevin Coyne, Unite national officer and chairman of Trade Unions for Safe Nuclear Energy, said: “This is an extremely short-sighted decision by the Cumbria County Council.

“The workforce at Sellafield will be immensely disappointed with the decision. Seventy per cent of Britain’s radioactive waste is based in Cumbria at the Sellafield site.

“The people of Cumbria were not going to be making any commitments to a waste repository by agreeing to continue with this study. This waste is not going to disappear but because of today’s decision there are no answers for how we can effectively deal with it.”

Barbara Shepherd, from the Prospect union, was stood at the entrance to county council’s Carlisle headquarters at The Courts with a number of Sellafield workers during the debate.

She said it would have been preferable to move forward to stage four so that they could establish the facts about the suitability of the area for such a site.

The underground facility could have been as big as Carlisle and the progression from stage three to stage four of the process would have involved tests to fully assess the suitability of selected sites in the west of the county.

Engineers had said it would have been a bigger construction challenge than the Channel Tunnel – it would have involved around 1000 construction workers tunnelling between 200 and 1000 metres into the ground.

It was estimated that it would have taken 15 years to complete at a projected cost of between £12bn and £20bn.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Were Cumbria County Councillors right to reject repository or should we still be in running?

EVERY reason to be cautious. Parts of the waste will be radioactive for more than a hundred thousand years, so this was a decision that affects unimaginable generations to come.

The concrete in which we store the waste cannot be guaranteed to last. We must find a solution to dispose nuclear waste.

RORY STEWART (Conservative MP for Penrith and the Border)

THE Government must take action to deal with the “huge quantities” of nuclear waste in west Cumbria regardless of the county council decision.

I have always said the one thing we cannot do is do nothing.

I would like the Government to be looking at other technologies, and alternative sites in other parts of the country.

TONY CUNNINGHAM (Workington Labour MP)

I’M DISAPPOINTED at the decision. I think it was premature and I wish they had gone through to stage four.

It might have been the right thing to go ahead. Or the geology might have revealed that it wasn’t a good place for a repository in which case they would have at least had the information to make a proper decision.

JOHN STEVENSON (Carlisle Conservative MP)

THE county council’s decision today has put the whole question of whether nuclear waste can be stored in West Cumbria in doubt.

The Government should now be looking at other more geologically suitable sites throughout the rest of the UK.

Copeland’s yes vote and the accompanying noises that they ‘can go it alone’ are worrying

TIM FARRON (Lib Dem MP, Westmorland and Lonsdale)

I ACTUALLY think it’s the right decision. Being in the delivery business for Pioneer around Cumbria you get to see how a lot of businesses have found it a struggle lately with tourist numbers being down.

I think Cumbria would be the wrong placement for the dump and we would struggle even further to persuade people to come here.

KELVIN WOOD (Scaleby, Carlisle)

PRAISE the Lord! Cumbria County Council has seen the light and is not progressing towards a nuclear dump.

Thank you.

FIONA ROBSON (Conservative Carlisle city councillor who represents Yewdale ward)

HAVE been very much against it from the start and I was completely delighted at the decision.

I am sure there are alternatives. So many people have worked hard to get this decision.

Well done. Common sense has prevailed.

ANNETTE GIBBONS (Cumbrian food ambassador, of Mawbray, near Allonby)

I’m delighted and I think it is the right decision.

I fully appreciate the fear for jobs but I just don’t think that we have the right to leave this legacy for a generation to come.

They would have had no say in the matter and that just isn’t fair.

GILLY FRASER (Author, broadcaster and former Border TV presenter, Abbeytown)

I WOULD rather see Cumbria prosper on the back of a better educated population, stronger transport links, and sunrise industries.

I think a lot more could be made of what a great place this is to live and work, and it is something of a mystery how little of this message seems to get through.

WENDY MURRELL (Commercial and administration co-ordinator at Carlisle Cathedral)

IN TERMS of the dump… I worry for the west Cumbrian economy long term as it is reliant on the nuclear industry but the rightdecision has been made.

This is a site of national importance and tranquility.

Common sense has prevailed.

GLENN ANDERSON (Former manager of Carlisle’s Outrageous bar and nightlife guru)

From the Carlisle News & Star on Thursday, January 31, 2013.