About us

The role of the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership is to give the Councils its opinions on the issues that would be involved in moving to the next stage of the process with the Government. The Partnership itself is not taking any decisions. Our role is an advisory one of fact finding and research gathering.

Partnership meetings are independently managed and reported by 3KQ, so that no one view dominates and proceedings are fairly recorded. The public can attend these meetings to observe discussions and ask questions.

The Government provides funding to cover the costs of the Partnership’s work.

The membership criteria for the Partnership are that an organisation must:

  • Hold a substantive interest in Copeland and/or Allerdale and the impact a geological disposal facility might have on the wider area.
  • Represent a formally constituted body or community of interest whose views are not already represented on the Partnership.
  • Be willing to operate within the Terms of Reference and working agreement of the Partnership.

Additionally, the Partnership contracts expert technical assistance from time to time to complement the experience of its members.

Current membership includes:


    The Partnership has published a Register of Interests of its members which you can view here. Background information about the Register can be found in the Documents section (Document 129).

    Observing Members are official bodies that sit on the Partnership to provide advice and support when requested by full members to do so. They do not take part in making Partnership decisions. Observing members include:

    Committee on Radioactive Waste Management
    Department of Energy and Climate Change
    Environment Agency
    Isle of Man Government
    Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
    Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
    West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group

    Others who have been invited to be members (but have declined) include:

    Greenpeace
    Friends of the Earth West Cumbria
    Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (CORE)


    > View next page 'Background information'