Holderness on the East Yorkshire coast has just been added to a list of three communities already identified as possible contenders for the country’s first geological disposal facility (GDF). Will Yorkshire soon become home to the UK’s first underground disposal site for highly active nuclear waste?
The three areas – two in Cumbria and Theddlethorpe in Lincolnshire – were first named nearly two years ago by government agency Nuclear Waste Services. A previously identified fourth site, also in Cumbria, was discounted recently due to limited suitable geology.
Holderness, nuclear waste and underground energy storage
This week’s addition of South Holderness was shrouded in secrecy until an official announcement on Thursday.
Best known for having the fastest-eroding coastline in Europe, Holderness also has a long track record in underground energy storage. Two sites at Atwick and Aldbrough currently account for 40% of the UK’s conventional underground gas storage capacity.
The gas is stored in a series of caverns created by drilling in a bed of salt about two kilometres below the surface. Each cavern is around the size of St Paul’s Cathedral. Both strong and dry, the caverns are ideal for storing natural gas but plans are the pipeline to convert some of them into hydrogen storage as part of the switch to low-carbon fuel.
Storing radioactive waste, however, is a different proposition.
Storing nuclear waste
The UK currently stores low-level nuclear waste in above ground facilities at more than 20 sites across the country with the majority of waste coming from electricity generation using nuclear power. Most have been designed to last for between 50 and 100 years before requiring a complete rebuild.
In contrast, Nuclear Waste Services say a typical GDF would be engineered to store higher-active radioactive waste away from the surface in metal on concrete containers within specially designed sealed tunnels and vaults up to 1,000m below ground in a suitable rock formation potentially for thousands of years as the radioactivity naturally reduces to safe levels.
Finding the right geology is key along with what is being billed by Nuclear Waste Services as “the consent of a willing community”.
Working group to engage the local community
In a press release announcing the formation of a working group to oversee the process in Holderness, Nuclear Waste Services said:
“The government’s GDF siting process in England and Wales is consent-based and requires Nuclear Waste Services to identify both a suitable site and a willing host community.
“Establishing a GDF working group is simply the starting point for a conversation with a local community and is in no way an indication that a GDF will be built in a particular area. “One of the working group’s tasks will be to engage people across the community to begin to understand the local area and any issues or questions the community might have.”
Recently retired Hull University pro vice-chancellor for research and enterprise, Dr David Richards has been appointed as independent chair of the working group. He said:
“The South Holderness GDF working group marks the beginning of finding out more about what a GDF is and gives our community an opportunity to share their thoughts about what it means for them. We want to work with local communities to discuss the potential of a GDF and the establishment of a community partnership, which if formed would benefit local good causes through grants of up to £1mn per year.
“The working group will not be making any decisions about whether a GDF is right for the area. It will take many years before any decision is finally reached and before that there will need to be explicit community support. My role as chair is to make sure local communities have access to information and to understand what people think about a GDF. We look forward to meeting local people and listening to their views.”
Storing nuclear waste is a decision for the Holderness community
East Riding Council leader Councillor Anne Handley said: “The council has today accepted the invitation to join the South Holderness GDF working group, which is the first step to opening discussions with the community about whether a GDF would be right for the area.
“Understanding what a GDF is and exploring the associated benefits is critical to the decision-making process for any community because it will ultimately be the local community who decide.”
An initial series of public drop-in events start in South Holderness next week.
