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Nuclear waste repository near Sellafield under consideration

Publish date: October 28, 2008

Proposals are being considered for an underground nuclear waste disposal site in Cumbria where Sellafield is located, the BBC reported.

Cumbria County Council is considering "expressing an interest" in a formal government process to find a suitable location for a nuclear waste dump.

But council chiefs stressed they were not committing to a site and any plan would be subject to the scrutiny of a full public consultation, the BBC said.

Around 70 percent of the UK’s high level nuclear waste is stored at Sellafield. The county council’s cabinet is due to meet next month to discuss the plans.

Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for nuclear issues told the BBC that, "The decision is an important one, but I must stress that we’re not making any commitments that Cumbria is the right place to have a nuclear waste repository.”

"That decision can only be made after thorough community consultation and a long process of looking at any proposal in far more detail,” he said, adding: "However, as 70 percent of the country’s higher level nuclear waste is already stored at Sellafield and the area is at the heart of Britain’s nuclear industry, it’s clear that we need to be talking to government about the best long-term solution."

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The role of CCS in Germany’s climate toolbox: Bellona Deutschland’s statement in the Association Hearing

After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.