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Earth

Rising seas could destroy nuclear dump

29 June 2005

RISING sea levels could destroy a nuclear waste dump on the UK coast in as little as 500 years.

A report by the UK’s Environment Agency warned last week that the 1 million cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste stored at Drigg – low-lying ground less than 500 metres from the Cumbrian coastline – could leak if the sea level rose. If that happens, the risk of local people developing cancers would increase 100-fold. “The potential for the destruction of the repository by coastal erosion means that the disposal of long-lived low-level waste on the site might be creating undue burdens on future generations,” the report…

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