Nirex bid for œ200m lab

Nuclear waste disposal company Nirex is pressing ahead with its plans to build a œ200 million rock characterisation facility (RFC) or 'rock laboratory' near Sellafield in Cumbria. The move comes despite strong criticism of Nirex's current safety models by the Government's Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee (RWMAC) and Friends of the Earth in June.

The nuclear industry wants to build a œ2.5 billion burial site for nuclear waste below Longlands Farm near Sellafield. Its problem is that too little is known about the complex geology below, despite research expenditure of over œ300 million already. The RFC is designed to find out more about the geology, water movement and chemistry of the site. Nirex hopes it can then provide better models of long-term safety performance. The RFC would consist of a number of underground galleries at a depth of 650m.

Nirex aims to have sufficient information by about 1998 or 1999. It can then decide about a planning application for the actual nuclear waste depository. The application is sure to kick up a fierce row. Cumbria County Council, normally supportive of the nuclear industry, wants a full public inquiry into the matter, but has so far been blocked by the DoE.

l Dounreay's nuclear site could offer up to œ500 million worth of new work between now and the year 2000. Some 40 contracts worth a total of around œ90 million are up for grabs in the first phase of work to be awarded over the next couple of years. But the work, mostly involving the decommissioning of the three nuclear reactors, could rise to around œ500 million in total, by the end of the century. The final cost of fully decommissioning the plant could reach œ3 billion and will take many years.