Criterion 5: The siting process
This criterion is about whether we can be confident that the siting process is sufficiently robust and flexible to meet the needs of local people.
If there is a decision to take part in the search for somewhere to put a repository, there would be a series of steps to narrow down from possibly suitable areas to specific sites.
This would include desk-based assessments of criteria such as: geology; the impact on the environment and the landscape; and transport.
These assessments would help decide where to focus more detailed geological investigations including boreholes.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority says that the search for a suitable site (Stages 4 and 5) would take about 15 years.
A new partnership of local organisations and community representatives would oversee the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s technical work and make sure local people are fully involved in the process.
The Government says a repository will only be put in an area where people are willing to have it.
At certain points the partnership would need to use a method, such as an opinion poll, to find out what the public thinks.
The Councils that have decided to take part in the search for a site would make the formal decisions about things like which areas to put forward for assessments and investigations, and ultimately which sites, if any, should be put forward for a repository, based on advice from the new partnership.
Criterion 6: Public and stakeholder views
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