A planning application has been submitted by Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) to ensure the future of its radioactive waste disposal site in West Cumbria.

If successful, the application will secure the site near Drigg until 2050.

The submission follows new that LLWR has been granted a revised permit to allow continued disposal of waste at the site.

Plans are in place to begin the phased construction of three new vaults, 9a, 10 and 11, where low level waste would be disposed of in specially-grouted containers.

It is understood construction work on vault 9a could begin in 2016 and run for almost four years, if the application is approved.

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The plans would also allow higher-stacking of containers in vault 8 along with the disposal of containers in vault 9, where they can currently only be stored.

Construction of a final cap over existing and new vaults would also be permitted, as well as seven landfill-style trenches where waste was disposed of prior to the opening of the sites first vault in 1988.

The final cap would ensure the site was progressively restored to grassland with screening planting on the site perimeter.

Dennis Thompson, LLWR MD, said: "Obtaining a permit for disposal is a major milestone for the company, achieving one of the key objectives of the NDA who awarded us the contract for managing LLWR in 2008.

"The Environmental Permit and the planning application go hand-in-hand, one cannot work effectively without the other.

"Our planning application is the next step. Hopefully it will be determined early in the new year. We will then be in a position to press ahead.

"We plan to develop the site to its full capacity, which will allow us to accommodate all the forecasted low level waste arisings well into the next century."

LLWR hopes eventually to construct up to 14 vaults on site, leaving a closure date of around 2130.

(LM)