West Cumbria's nuclear future

The final report on the process of building an underground nuclear storage facility in or around Cumbria is being drafted today.

Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council will use the information to decide whether or not to take part in the search for a possible site for the nuclear waste.

The idea would involve moving some of the enormous amounts of nuclear waste at Sellafield to underground sites to be stored for hundreds of years.

The group looking into whether west CUmbria should put itself forward to host an underground nuclear waste store will consider its report at a meeting in Keswick today.

Last month the majority of people living in the west of the county said they would be happy to go to the next stage.

The Managing Radio Active Waste Safely Partnership will consider the first draft of its final report, which they are due to finalise and present to the decision making councils - Allerdale Borough Council, Copeland Borough Council and Cumbria County Council in July.

In order for the area to proceed there would need to be agreement by a borough council and the county council to take part.

If West Cumbria was to take part it would enter the siting stage which would include a series of steps to narrow down from possibly suitable areas to specific sites.