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Augean has developed new proposals for its East Northants Resource Management Facility (RMF), to allow the disposal of wastes, such as soils and construction materials, that arise from sources that include the decommissioning of nuclear power stations and hospitals.
It is important to note that this construction waste contains only very small amounts of radioactivity, which present negligible risk to the public and, importantly to Augean's staff on site. This level is comparatively only a very small fraction of the average exposure experienced by the public from natural sources in Northamptonshire and across the country.
There is currently no readily available solution for wastes containing small amounts of low level radiation that result from the nuclear decommissioning process, and other sources such as science and research facilities, hospitals and manufacturing, as there are very few sites that can accept them. Consequently, these wastes are accumulating at the places where they originate or are sent to the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) near the village of Drigg in Cumbria. The LLWR is designed for much higher levels of radioactivity and has limited capacity.
The company currently has permission to accept hazardous waste at its landfill facility and soil treatment centre, formerly known as the Kings Cliffe Landfill Site, which has been in operation since 2002.
The East Northants RMF is regarded as a highly suitable alternative facility for this type of waste, because of the way the site is engineered and because of the specialist experience of Augean staff in handling and disposing of difficult to manage wastes.
Augean made its plans for the site known through a newsletter delivered to the local community and a public exhibition. We are continuing to engage with all interested parties to explain the proposals and respond to queries.
We have answered a number of questions arising from this application during the public consultation programme. Click here for a copy Frequently Asked Questions document and this will be kept up to date as further questions are posed. The most important Questions and Answers have been produced as an August 2009 Community Newsletter and distributed widely in the Kings Cliffe area and further afield. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.