Press Release sent out yesterday Monday 8th June 2026
A giant postcard was coloured in today outside the Mid-Copeland Geological Disposal Facility (UK Nuclear Dump) Partnership meeting by supporters of Lakes Against Nuclear Dump (LAND), and delivered to the meeting during the public questions item.
The postcard was based on maps from West Cumbria Mining that indicate the coal bed measures under the sea off the Lake District coast, and also from the British Geological Survey that show the West Cumbria Aquifer and fault lines in the area.
LAND asked why the plans for the GDF (nuclear dump) were now being made over known resources of fresh water, coal, and minerals when previous proposals had avoided those. The campaigners pointed out that it made the Lake District Coast into a nuclear waste booby trap for future generations who might look to access those resources.
Partnership members brushed concerns aside with assurances that the suitability of the geology would be comprehensively revealed by deep borehole investigations. The investigative boreholes, which would be very deep and intrusive, would require a Development Consent Order, which can be objected to, but argue LAND, this is not a genuine democratic process as members of the public are required to register as an “interested party”and as such are liable to financial costs.
LAND said, “in the partnership meeting there was great emphasis on activity from the developers, Nuclear Waste Services, in accessing schools and youth groups. The developers are associating unproven, untested ideas of guaranteed safety, guaranteed prosperity and guaranteed access to training and jobs with the GDF plan. This is magical thinking and cynical PR aimed at children and young people. The only guarantee is that this plan would be the biggest industrial development ever in the UK. Once abandoned underground the extremely hot, high-level nuclear wastes are guaranteed to leak sooner or later with our complex geology as the last line of defence.”
Geologist Professor Stuart Haszeldine has previously said: “Adding material which may heat to 100-200C is a huge disruption and will undoubtedly change the pathways of groundwater flow. This is like having an electric kettle containing stable stationary water and then turning on the electricity to add heat – the water soon circulates and if heating continues, the water boils.”
All the partnership members were handed a leaflet by LAND saying:
“Westmorland and Furness Council holds a £261,000 contract to write Sellafield’s off-site emergency plans — but has no formal say on the deep nuclear waste mine proposal. So the body tasked with planning for a nuclear catastrophe in this region is excluded from having any say on the development most likely to cause catastrophe, an earthquake-inducing giant mine for burial of hot nuclear wastes.
Thousands have signed a petition calling for Cumberland Council to hold a full democratic debate and vote rather than leaving the decision to four Copeland councillors. Westmorland and Furness Council should also have a vote to inform any future decisions. Excluding most of the region from having a say is a cynical move by successive Governments desperate to “solve” the accelerating nuclear waste crisis in order to justify Hinkley C and other planned new nuclear builds with more dangerous new wastes.
The Lake District coast is resource rich, with a primary aquifer delivering fresh water to 275,000 people across the area, mineral resources, and coal beds, all beneath the “Area of Focus.”
Future generations would be handed a nuclear waste booby trap. Is this ethical or legal? It is of huge concern that NWS have employed law firms to the tune of £132M to smooth the way. The contrast with a paltry amount afforded to W&F Council for writing the region’s response to nuclear catastrophe speaks of warped priorities”.
ENDS
Refs:
Awards of costs: examinations of applications for development consent orders
Prof Stuart Haszeldine https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/volatile-boiling-geysers-the-latest-on-nuclear-waste-plans/
Westmorland and Furness Council to write Sellafield Emergency Plan
https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2026/W23/871629128
Petition to Cumberland Council to hold Nuclear Dump Vote
https://www.change.org/p/urgent-insist-cumberland-council-have-full-vote-on-nuclear-dump-plan
West Cumbria Mining’s Coal Bed Measures Map
Lakes Against Nuclear Dump 
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