RWM response to Hartlepool reports

RWM Head of Siting Steve Reece said:

RWM is currently talking to several interested parties across England and Wales about the issues and opportunities of hosting a Geological Disposal Facility.

This is an enormous infrastructure project, worth £billions – one that would bring thousands of jobs for multiple generations as well as the significant investment needed for supporting infrastructure in the area where a GDF is built.

We are open to early conversations to help people understand the GDF project and decide whether they wish to get involved. This is a process that is driven by communities. We are listening and, in Hartlepool, we hear that there is some concern from community leaders.

We remain open to talking about this project and the great opportunities for a host community - but we would not be pushing the project if there is no local appetite.

The process to find a suitable GDF site ultimately requires a community to give clear consent through a process called a Test of Public Support - this project is unique in that the local community will have the final say.

Learn more about GDF, the role of a community and the benefits.

Two areas in Cumbria have already started this process by forming Working Groups to understand more about the process to find a location for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) – that’s an underground facility designed to safely and securely dispose of the UK’s higher activity radioactive waste.

A GDF would be built up to 1,000 metres in the rock deep underground and it would contain the waste safely and isolate it over the very long term, until the radioactivity naturally decays and no longer poses a hazard to people or the environment.

Government policy: Implementing geological disposal – working with communities