Westlakes Hosts Researchers from Across Europe
The Core Group meeting at Westlakes, with WSC Consultant Stephen Haraldsen on the far right.
Westlakes Scientific Consulting hosted researchers and project facilitators from six European countries involved in the Community Waste Management (COWAM) in Practice (CIP) project. The meeting was held at Westlakes over three days to bring the involved countries together to elaborate work to date and chart the way forward for the final year of this three year project.
The countries represented at the meeting were:
• United Kingdom (Rick Wylie and Stephen Haraldsen, of Westlakes Scientific Consulting)
• Belgium
• France
• Romania
• Slovenia
• Spain
Westlakes Scientific Consulting is the National Facilitator in the UK for the project, and form a part of the ‘Methodological Task Force’ of researchers undertaking applied research into radioactive waste governance. The area of research identified and undertaken in the UK looks at the definition and governance structures of ‘affected communities.’
The ‘National Stakeholder Group’ in the UK (which WSC facilitates) brings together stakeholder organisations from bodies involved in radioactive waste management across England, Wales and Scotland. The members are drawn from the following organisations:
• Allerdale Borough Council
• Cumbria Association of Local Councils (CALC)
• Committee on Radioactive Waste Management
• Copeland Borough Council
• Cumbria County Council
• Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)
• Dounreay Site Stakeholder Group (DSG)
• Environment Agency
• Health and Safety Executive
• Health Protection Agency
• Highland Council
• Magnox South
• nUKlear21
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)
• Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum (NuLeAF)
• Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
• Scottish Government
• Sedgmoor District Council
• Shetland Islands Council
• Somerset County Council
• West Cumbria Sites Stakeholder Group (WCSSG)
• West Cumbria Strategic Co-ordination Unit
• West Lakes Renaissance
The CIP project aims to improve governance arrangements, and to generate European guidelines for the management of radioactive waste. This is achieved by cooperative and collaborative research between the researchers operating across Europe and the national stakeholders in each country.
The project is funded under the Framework 6 of the European Union and by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).