Letter:Where Not to Put Radioactive Waste

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Sir: On Tuesday, 20 December, Cumbria County Council is considering the planning application by UK Nirex to build its proposed Rock Characterisation Facility (RCF) at Gosforth, near Sellafield in Cumbria ("Government faces inquiry into nuclear was te disposal", 19 December).

The RCF is an underground "laboratory" that could become the first stage in the construction of a nuclear waste repository .

Many doubts have already been raised about the geological suitability of the site for radioactive waste disposal. The rock in which Nirex proposes to put the waste is highly fractured and the long-term water flows, which will carry radioactive contaminants from the …