Ministers have agreed to start digging a 650ft deep pit in England this decade.
The facility has not yet been allocated a location, but it will house some of the 5m tonnes of waste generated by nuclear power plants over the last seven decades.
The 17 nuclear waste storage plants currently operating around the country will be relieved of some pressure. These facilities consist of huge sheds and cooling pools.
Sellafield in Cumbria is the largest facility.
The 650ft pit is intended to house the so-called intermediate level waste. It could be in a mine that already exists on a nuclear site, which would minimize planning objections.
The facility is separate from a much deeper geological disposal area that will house the UK’s dangerous waste, including plutonium. This site will not be constructed until 2050.
The proposal comes amid fears Britain’s stockpile nuclear waste would grow in the future decades without a place to put it.
The Government plans to build at least 3 new nuclear power plants.
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution’s 1976 review of UK nuclear waste policy warned that the UK was amassing nuclear waste at such a rapid rate, it should cease building reactors until a solution could be found.
Ministers are trying to promote nuclear energy as “green” and a “sustainable” fuel.
Experts on the government’s own advisory committee, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management have stated that such terms can be misleading if a safe place is not available to store radioactive waste.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, headed by Energy Sec. Claire Coutinho, recently published plans for a nuclear-waste pit.
The government spokesperson said that in addition to long-term disposal plans for the most hazardous radioactive material at a geological disposal site hundreds of meters underground, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority would explore a facility nearer the surface to handle less hazardous radioactive materials.
While a geological landfill isn’t expected to be completed until the 2050s a shallower facility, which could be up to 200m under ground, could be available in 10 years.
Water can pass through nuclear waste and carry radioactivity to the surface. This is why there are fears about burying it underground.
Once buried, and sealed in cement, it will be virtually impossible to access such waste should such a problem arise.
When nuclear accidents do occur, they can have deadly and expensive consequences.
The Sellafield fire in 1957 released radioactivity throughout the UK and Europe.
Even more destructive were the accidents that occurred in Fukushima in Japan in 2011, and Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986.
After recent announcements of the largest expansion in nuclear power since 1970, the Government has now made its proposals.
Hinkley Point C, estimated to cost PS46bn in Somerset, is currently under construction. Sizewell C is about to begin in Suffolk with a similar price.
Along with a fleet of small modular reactors, a third giant nuclear plant is being planned.
Andrew Bowie, minister of nuclear energy, stated: “We are taking sensible steps to reduce the burden on taxpayers and the environment while managing our radioactive waste.”
David Peattie is the chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. He added, “We will maintain our highest standards in safety and environmental protection for the delivery of our important national decommissioning missions.”
The UK’s largest and most expensive infrastructure projects will be the geological disposal facility that will house the UK’s deadliest waste.
The facility is expected to be 3500ft long and 2,700ft wide.
The first is located off the coasts of Lincolnshire, and the second off the coasts of Cumbria near Copeland.
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