Plans to get rid of the UK’s high-level nuclear waste in an underground repository – a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) – have been described as “unachievable” by a Treasury unit.
The Nationwide Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (Nista) issued the appraisal in its Annual Report 2024-2025,1 printed on 11 August, wherein scores had been offered signifying the achievability of 214 main infrastructure tasks.
Geological disposal has been described as the one confirmed, technically possible choice for coping with radioactive waste,2 and efforts to construct such a facility have been initiated in a variety of locations, notably Finland, and likewise Sweden, which introduced ground-breaking on a facility in January this 12 months.
The GDF can be an engineered facility positioned deep underground (UK coverage has specified a depth of 200m – 1000m), outfitted to soundly retailer high-level radioactive waste for 1000’s of years. It relies upon for its perform upon the encircling geology to some extent, but in addition employs closely engineered components equivalent to with the packaging and sealing of the waste itself.
The immense scale of such a challenge is clear from the actual fact it could solely comply with the approval of two separate improvement consent order (DCO) functions, one for exploratory works and one other for the challenge.3
Duty for its supply lies with Nuclear Waste Providers (NWS), the working arm of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), a non-departmental public physique accountable to DESNZ.
A spokesperson for the Division for Power Safety and Internet Zero stated: “Developing the UK’s first geological disposal facility will present an internationally recognised secure and everlasting disposal of probably the most hazardous radioactive waste.
“Progress continues to be made in areas participating within the siting course of for this multibillion-pound facility, which might deliver 1000’s of expert jobs and financial progress to the native space.”
Nista’s Annual Report 2024-2025 has estimated the entire life value at between £20 billion and £54 billion.
The doc is the primary such annual report from Nista, which mixes the features of the earlier Nationwide Infrastructure Fee (NIC) and the Infrastructure and Initiatives Authority (IPA), and which got here into being in April 2025. It maintains the color coding utilized in reviews from its predecessors to indicate its evaluation of the deliverability of tasks.
As New Civil Engineer reported, the GDF has adopted a shifting course in recent times between inexperienced, amber and pink scores. Inexperienced is probably the most propitious for supply, whereas amber signifies “Profitable supply seems possible however important points exist already, requiring administration consideration”. Crimson, however, means “Profitable supply of the challenge seems to be unachievable”, the supply of the designation now being broadly reported in respect of the GDF.
The reason of the pink ranking continues: “There are main points with challenge definition, schedule, finances, high quality and/or advantages supply, which at this stage don’t seem like manageable or resolvable. The challenge may have re-scoping and/or its total viability reassessed.”
The GDF was rated “amber” within the IPA’s January 2025 report.
The brand new report, from Nista, is the primary time it has acquired an outright “pink” ranking, within the file of publicly launched IPA reviews going again to 2013.
“Authorities coverage for the Geological Disposal Facility is based upon discovering a challenge improvement website that’s publicly acceptable, geologically ‘appropriate’ and reasonably priced”, explains the web site of Nuclear Free Native Authority.4
“Thus far, the primary two of those hurdles have confirmed problematic to leap for the taxpayer funded physique charged with discovering a website and growing the ability.”
Earlier makes an attempt to agree on a website for a GDF have resulted in impasse, equivalent to in January 2013 when Cumbria County Council withdrew within the face of public opposition, and most just lately, with a restarted siting course of, when Theddlethorpe Parish Council withdrew in July 2023.
Allerdale in Cumbria ended its engagement in 2022 when the Borough Council declined to proceed, citing an absence of appropriate geology.
Solely Mid Copeland and South Copeland are at present nonetheless engaged with Nuclear Waste Providers within the seek for an appropriate website. The web site of Nuclear Free Native Authorities means that native resistance is rising that would block the progress of those plans.
Notes
[1] NISTA Annual Report 2024-25. Hyperlink: https://www.gov.uk/authorities/publications/nista-annual-report-2024-2025/nista-annual-report-2024-25
[2] Remark attributed to Professor Rebecca Lunn from the presentation “Assembly the problem of geological disposal of UK larger high quality radioactive waste” made on the College of Strathclyde in 2016. A report seems right here: https://envirotecmagazine.com/2017/03/16/a-pressing-matter/
[3] “Geological disposal facility for nuclear waste may value £54bn and ‘seems unachievable’”, New Civil Engineer, 15 August 2025.
[4] https://www.nuclearpolicy.data/information/unproven-and-costly-nuclear-waste-dump-red-rated-as-unachievable/
