Scotland may get six nuclear waste stores

Published on Sunday 13 January 2008 20:56

UP TO six new nuclear waste stores could be built under proposals being considered by the Scottish Government, it was confirmed yesterday.

Under the plans, waste would be stored near Scotland's nuclear plants and no longer transported to a dump near Sellafield, in Cumbria, which takes waste from across the UK.

The UK government, which announced plans last week for a new generation of nuclear stations south of the Border, is opposed to the move.

However, new long-term storage facilities could be built near existing or former power plants at Hunterston, Ayrshire; Torness, East Lothian; Dounreay, Caithness; Chapelcross, Dumfriesshire; and at the naval bases at Rosyth, Fife, and Faslane, Dunbartonshire.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, insisted Scotland would not become a "dumping ground" for high-level waste from across the UK. He told BBC Scotland's Politics Show: "We are talking here about low-level and medium nuclear waste stored in the areas which generate that waste. This is the principle we are putting forward, that people and governments have to take responsibility for their actions, and that it is a responsible policy.

"It is one that is being pursued in Scotland at the present moment, of course, in the case of Dounreay, and it is entirely right that we store things safely in the place where they're generated, as opposed to digging some massive hole in the ground somewhere and hoping beyond hope that's going to be all right for future generations."

However, the plans were dismissed by British Energy, which runs Hunterston and Torness. It said: "We don't agree with the Scottish Government's proposals. We support the current UK framework."