Public Inquiry into nuclear waste dump

A public inquiry is investigating controversial plans to bury up to a million tonnes of low level radioactive waste in West Cumbria.

Cumbria County Council refused planning permission for the site at Keekle Head near Distington in May last year. The company behind the proposals, Endecom promptly appealed.

Endecom says there is a need for such a facility, while anti-nuclear protesters strongly oppose the idea.

Watch the full report from Ryan Dollard below.

Plans to bury one million tonnes of low level radioactive waste in west Cumbria have gone to a Public Inquiry.

Cumbria County Council refused planning permission for the site at Keekle Head near Distington in May last year, prompting the company behind the proposals, Endecom, to appeal.

This has resulted in the Public Inquiry.

Endecom says the site is well suited and there is a need for such a facility, while anti-nuclear protesters strongly oppose the idea.

Phil Holland is from Endecom UK:

Cumbria County Council's decision to refuse planning permission for a radioactive waste dump in west Cumbria is the subject of a Public Inquiry this week.

A number of planning consultants and council officers will be presenting evidence at the Inquiry, which will be held over an expected two-week period at County Hall in Kendal.

The application to use the Keekle Head former open cast coal mine as a site to store up to aone million cubic metres of low-level waste was turned down in May 2012.