Nuclear alert: PM's bribe boosts dumping of waste (UK)

[jpak]

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3312836.ece

Nuclear chiefs are to give Britons millions of pounds of taxpayers' money to accept the dumping of radioactive waste near their home.

The operators of the controversial Sellafield nuclear complex have agreed to pay local people in Cumbria some £75m for expanding the only national dump for low-level nuclear waste, in a move that has surprised leading experts.

The unprecedented deal – which is being called a "bribe" – is widely thought to be the precursor of a payment of at least £1bn to the community that agrees to take a much more controversial planned repository for infinitely more dangerous waste that will remain toxic for hundreds of thousands of years.

The Government plans to invite communities across Britain to "express an interest" in hosting such a repository, and expects them to put forward proposals for inducements to take it that will "enhance "their "wellbeing". The new deal – agreed just before Christmas – will provide concrete evidence of their intentions and raise the financial stakes.

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