Welcome to the Allerdale Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) Community Partnership newsletter.
It’s been a busy few months for the Community Partnership following our membership recruitment campaign in April. We’re just in the final stages of that process, and news of our new members will be coming to you soon.
In the meantime, we wanted to let you know about the new online Speaker Booking from available on our website, update you on our outreach work and Community Investment Funding awards, and tell you about the other Communities that are taking part in the GDF siting process.
If you no longer wish to receive Allerdale GDF newsletters, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to GDFinfo-Allerdale@nda.gov.uk with the subject ‘UNSUBSCRIBE’.
Minutes of all Allerdale GDF Community Partnership meetings can be found on the ‘Resources’ page of our website under ‘Meeting Documents’.
Book a Community Partnership Speaker
Our new online booking form allows you to request a speaker or presentation, or for a Community Partnership member to attend your meeting or event. BOOK HERE.
Allerdale GDF Community Partnership Interim Chair, Mary Bradley, with Marjorie Herbert from Harrington Ladies Club.
For the last four months we have been focussed on delivering outreach presentations to community groups and organisations to inform people about the GDF project, and to listen to your views.
We have so far delivered presentations to eight groups, including Parish Councils, Rotary Club, Cockermouth & District Civic Trust and Harrington Ladies Club.
These events have provided opportunies for people to engage directly with our members and subject matter experts from NWS, and we want to speak to many more groups and individulas in the community to share information, seek views and provide answers to questions.
Our presentations can be tailored to suit the needs of your group or organisation and can also be supported by subject matter experts who can share information and answer questions on a range of topics including environmental and human safety, geology and international GDF programmes.
So, whether it’s a presentation, round table discussion or Q&A, for adults or young people – in person or online – please get in touch with us to discuss your requirements in more detail.
Book a visit here.
Community Partnership Meet with the Civic Trust
Back in April, our Interim Chair, Mary Bradley met with members of Cockermouth and District Civic Trust to give a general update from the Community Partnership.
From left to right: Cockermouth & District Civic Trust Members with Allerdale GDF Community Partnership Interim Chair Mary Bradley and Nuclear Waste Services Siting Manager, Daniel Rigg.
Local Civic Trust members heard how being involved in the GDF process effects local communities and were given information about the Community Investment Funding that is available to support projects in Allerdale.
Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) Siting Manager, Daniel Rigg also went along to the meeting to provide an overview of the Search Area investigations.
Mary Bradley said: “It was wonderful to meet with Cockermouth & District Civic Trust Members and bring them up to speed with the work we’ve been doing.
The meeting was a great opportunity to get some feedback from the community, hear their views and answer questions about the process. We thank them for their interest and engaging questions and look forward to keeping them updated.
We want to have the same dialogue with many other groups in the community and encourage anyone who would like a presentation from the Community Partnership to get in touch.”
Community Investment Funding Update
Grant funding of up to £1 million annually has been made available by central government for the Allerdale GDF Community Partnership as it participates in the siting process for a Geological Disposal Facility.
The fund is open for applications and grants can be used to fund projects, schemes or initiatives that:
- provide economic opportunities
- enhance the natural and built environment, or
- improve community wellbeing.
Projects we have supported so far:
- £6,000 has been awarded to Broughton Parish Council to contribute towards the costs of installing fencing to prevent stray balls landing in the playground part of the Welfare Field.
- £2,000 has been awarded to the Carnegie Singers for a community engagement and outreach project related to the wellbeing benefits of singing.
Community Investment Funding can make a real positive difference in the community while it takes part in the GDF process and our Community Investment Funding Team are available to provide advice and support you through the application process.
“We’re receiving applications from a wide range of local projects and organisations, and we encourage anyone with an idea to get in touch for an informal chat.” – Jason Flynn from the Community Investment Funding team
Call: 0300 369 0000
Email: communityinvestment-allerdale@nda.gov.uk
Visit: www.allerdale.workinginpartnership.org.uk/community-investment-funding
Which other areas in England are being considered?
It’s not just Allerdale involved in the search for a suitable site for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).
The search for a site for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) is being undertaken in partnership with a number of communities across England.
The Developer – Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) – is working with all these communities, including Allerdale, to ensure local people are involved right through the process.
There are currently three Community Partnerships and one Working Group in England:
- Allerdale GDF Community Partnership
- Mid-Copeland GDF Community Partnership
- South Copeland GDF Community Partnership
- Theddlethorpe GDF Working Group
The multi-year consent-based process to identify a site means that these communities are not at the same part of this process as one another, and Theddlethorpe are only in the very early of the process, having not yet made a decision to form a Community Partnership.
The GDF team will initially carry out high level evaluations of these areas and collect new information about the potential areas and/or sites, taking into account feedback from communities.
The evaluation will increase in detail and complexity as activities such as geophysical surveys, drilling investigative boreholes and analysing samples of rock and groundwater are carried out and six siting factors will be used in the evaluations, covering:
- Safety and Security
- Community
- Environment
- Engineering Feasibility
- Transport
- Value for Money
If any of these Community Partnerships agree to pursue siting at a particular location, then deep investigatory boreholes will need to be drilled to carry out further testing of the geological conditions at depth.
The Community Investment Funding that will be available for any community in which site characterisation takes place will rise to up to £2.5 million annually.
NWS Siting Manager, Daniel Rigg
Siting Manager, Daniel Rigg said: “Detailed site investigations could take fifteen years, depending on how long it takes us to understand the underlying geology and be confident that a facility can be designed safely and securely.
Once we have enough information to confirm that a GDF may be possible in a particular area, we will then need planning permission, an environmental permit and a Nuclear Site Licence.
But importantly, before this, there must be a Test of Public Support to demonstrate the community wants to host a GDF. A GDF simply can’t be built without the consent of a local community.”
Depending on the local geology, it is estimated to take around ten years to construct the first GDF vaults to take waste.
Further information about the site evaluation process can be found on the ‘resources’ page of our website.
Contact Us
We want to hear your views and help you find all the information you need, so please contact us with any comments or questions:
Email: gdfinfo-allerdale@nda.gov.uk
Call: 0300 369 0000
For hearing and speech impaired customers please call via Relay UK on 18001 (all calls are charged at local rate)
Write to us: Allerdale GDF Community Partnership, GDF Enquiries, PO Box 734, Swansea, SA1 9RP
Follow us on social media:
