Five Community Partnership members travelled to Cumbria recently to learn more about how the UK’s low-level radioactive waste is disposed of and the operation and methods used at the disposal facility.
The group visited the Low-Level Waste Repository (LLWR) in West Cumbria. The site is near the village of Drigg and other farming communities, and next to coastal dunes, which are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI).
The tour covered the measures taken to ensure people and the environment are protected, and how safety is monitored and reported.
LLWR is a nuclear licensed site for the disposal of packaged low-level solid waste. This waste comes from a range of customers, such as the nearby nuclear industry at Sellafield, the Ministry of Defence, and non-nuclear industries covering educational, medical and research organisations.
Community Partnership members combined the LLWR tour with a visit to the nearby town of Seascale. They met with ‘Shackles Off’, a youth and community project that helps young people in the area. The group heard about youth projects and education opportunities that are supported by Community Investment Funding.
The group met with the chairs of the South and Mid Copeland Community Partnerships and the chair of the multi-agency West Cumbria Site Stakeholder Group.
They all shared their experience of involving local people in decisions that affect them and ensuring local communities benefit from long-term workforce planning and investment.
David Fannin, chair of the Theddlethorpe Community Partnership explained,
“There’s no substitute for seeing for yourself what it’s like to live and work for and alongside the nuclear industry. It was really helpful to hear from local people what is means for them and the visit to the LLWR gave us a better understanding of how the safety and security of nuclear waste is managed.”