Plan to dump radioactive waste in landfill rejected

Controversial plans to dump radioactive waste in a landfill site were today refused by a local council.

Waste management company Augean Plc, which operates the East Northants Resource Management Facility (ENRMF) landfill, applied to store the low level radioactive waste (LLW) waste at the site in Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire.

The site is already used to store hazardous waste but if the plans were approved, would have become the first commercial landfill in the country to dispose of waste with this level of radioactivity.

It could have seen as much as 250,000 tonnes of low-level radioactive waste dumped there each year until 2013, when its current planning permission expires.

The firm needs permission from both Northamptonshire County Council and the Environment Agency to go ahead with the plans.

But today the county council's nine-strong Development Control Committee unanimously voted against the application, despite it being recommended for approval by the chief planning officer.

Committee chairman Ben Smith said the arrangement of bringing waste from nuclear sites across the country to store them at Kings Cliffe was not "best available technique".

He said: "The treatment should be on the site where the problem arises and quite frankly this must send a message surely out to anybody contemplating nuclear energy.

"I am a great supporter of nuclear energy but you can't leave a legacy for future generations to deal with and that is basically what we are left with today."

He said Kings Cliffe was not a purpose-built site, but an "opportune" one.

"It is not a purpose built site but a site that happens to be here for hazardous waste.

"To call that best available technique is just crazy to me."

The chief planning officer's report said currently the only other route for disposal of LLW was at a commercial landfill site in Clifton Marsh, Lancashire.

But this site accepts waste up to a radioactive level of 100 Becquerels per gram (Bq/g), with planning permission running to 2012, whereas plans for King's Cliffe would have seen it take waste up to 200Bq/g.

LLW is radioactive waste which has a radioactive content not exceeding 4,000Bq/g.

The report said plans are being developed for an application at Lillyhall, near Workington in Cumbria.

But it said: "At the time of submission of this application by Augean, with the exception of the LLWR (a purpose-built facility in Cumbria) and the in-house facility at Dounreay, Scotland, there were no operating or planned facilities for the disposal of LLW with levels of radioactivity up to 200Bq/g."

Today the committee's vote to turn down the application, at its council chamber in Northampton, was met with applause from people who live in King's Cliffe, who formed the campaign group Waste Watchers in a bid to fight the plans.

The meeting heard that over 200 letters of objection had been received and a petition of more than 3,000 names collected, with several people speaking at the meeting itself.
Speaking after the meeting, Clare Langan, 45, who lives in King's Cliffe and campaigned against the plans, said: "I just feel so elated and so relieved that the councillors threw this out.

"It really is a victory for common sense and I think the councillors who debated the matter today and the chairman should be commended.

"I think they have put people's health ahead of a company's wealth.

"People felt very strongly about it because, yes, it's our backyard, but what's really important was it was a precedent for the rest of the country.

"You can't dispose of this material on an ad hoc, piecemeal basis. There's got to be a proper plan in place.

"If they appeal we will fight them at appeal and we will win the appeal."

During the meeting, local councillors and people who live in the area voiced concerns about the unknown effects of dumping radioactive waste - no matter how low-level - in the area.

They also said it would set a precedent to store the waste in Northamptonshire, but also in similar sites across the country.

Waste Watchers campaigner Chris Leuchars told the meeting: "If you decide to accept this application, as of this afternoon Northamptonshire will be the national destination for radioactive waste."

Labour councillor John McGhee said the committee had a duty to protect the people of Northamptonshire.

He said: "It's not just King's Cliffe, we will be setting a precedent, not just for King's Cliffe, not just for the north of the county, or Northamptonshire, but for the whole country."

The Department of Energy and Climate Change previously said the Government's policy on management and disposal of LLW, published in March 2007, made it clear that some LLW waste streams, at the lower end of the range, were potentially suitable for disposal in conventional facilities, including landfills.

It said: "These disposals will be regulated by the EA in England and Wales.

"This will ensure that only those wastes which pose a negligible risk to the public can be disposed of in this way."

The waste Augean proposed to dispose of at Kings Cliffe would have included construction and demolition waste from the decommissioning of nuclear power plant buildings.

It could also have included lightly-contaminated waste from maintenance and monitoring at nuclear facilities, science and research facilities and hospitals where radioactive materials are used.

Company representatives reassured worried members of the public that there was a negligible risk and stringent safety measures were in place.

But campaigners and councillors remained concerned of problems of transporting the waste from sites long distances away then dumping them at the site.

Speaking after today's meeting Dr Gene Wilson, group technical director at Augean, said: "Naturally, we are disappointed that Northamptonshire County Council was not able to support our application for the East Northants RMF.

"We will now be considering how best to take these important proposals forward."