Dozens of skips full of nuclear waste could soon be transported through Bridgwater and the Burnham-On-Sea area from other parts of the UK.
Magnox Ltd currently operates the Hinkley Point A site near Stogursey, which includes a small area where nuclear waste is stored before being moved elsewhere for processing.
Currently, only waste which is generated on the Hinkley site can legally be stored there. However, the company is putting forward plans to allow waste from other nuclear power stations to be transported to Hinkley by road to the site.
Somerset County Council is expected to make a decision on whether this will be allowed in the summer, with one councillor warning it will set a dangerous precedent.
The proposals relate to “intermediate-level waste”, which includes cladding around nuclear fuel and materials which have become contaminated in the process of decommissioning a nuclear reactor.
This waste is less dangerous than “high-level waste,” which could include fuel from inside a reactor, but it is still highly radioactive and requires shielding, such as concrete, to reduce the risk to individuals.
Magnox proposes to move ‘skips’ (large blocks) of intermediate-level waste to the Hinkley site for “packaging and interim storage” until they can be moved to a “geological disposal facility”- burial underground – elsewhere in the UK.
Magnox has indicated the deliveries would all take place over a three-month period, beginning in the spring or summer of 2020.
A spokesman for Somerset County Council said this week: “At this point we do not have a formal time-scale for when the prospective applicant will submit their application, but we expect this to be during this summer. The application will be subsequently determined by our regulation committee.”
