RESIDENTS living near to AWE sites at Aldermaston and Burghfield have just weeks left to have their say on proposals to store radioactive waste from decommissioned submarines at the sites.

As previously reported in The Gazette, the bases are among five shortlisted sites where the waste could be stored for at least 25 years.

In total, 27 submarines are set to be dismantled, and the waste which is generated will need to be stored until at least 2040 before it can be transferred to a geological disposal facility.

A public consultation on the plans will conclude on February 20 and the Nuclear Information Service, an independent group which monitors activity at the sites, is encouraging residents to attend consultation meetings organised by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which are taking place locally at the end of January.

The exhibitions are scheduled to take place today at the Community Sports Association, in Burgh-field, and tomorrow at Tadley Community Centre.

Pete Wilkinson, director of the Nuclear Information Service pressure group, said: “We’re glad that the MoD is asking local people for their views on this difficult topic.

“Public consultation on the option of storing radioactive waste from submarines at AWE is an encouraging step forward from the dismal lack of dialogue between AWE and local people which we are used to.

“We would urge everybody to take this opportunity to find out more about what the plans mean for them and their local community.

“The meetings in Burghfield and Tadley are the last chance to have your say on whether AWE sites are suitable locations for the storage of this waste, and to ask questions about important issues such as transport arrangements, security, safety risks, and how the plans might impact upon the area during the decades over which the waste would be stored here.”

A recent meeting of Tadley Town Council heard from Councillor Warwick Lovegrove that the reactor vessels were likely to come via the M3 and A340 to AWE Aldermaston.

He said: “This will be twice a year for the first year and once a year after that, hopefully at night time. They will be escorted at night.”

The council agreed to invite a member of the project, from either the MoD, or AWE, to come and speak to the council before its submits a formal response to the plans.

The project will oversee the disposal of 27 Royal Navy nuclear submarines that are due to have left service by the mid 2030s and have to be defuelled.

The submarines can only be completely dismantled once reactor components, which are categorised as radioactive waste, have been removed. The initial dismantling process will support up to 60 skilled jobs.