CAPENHURST is among five facilities across the UK to have been shortlisted by the Ministry of Defence to store waste from disused nuclear-powered submarines following a preliminary announcement in February.

The sites, which are either owned by the MoD or the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, have been named as part of a submarine dismantling project

Since the initial announcement, Capenhurst Nuclear Services (CNS) has been working closely alongside the MOD during the pre-enagement phase of the site selection process.

In May, CNS invited members of the local community to attend an information event to hear more about the MOD’s process.

David Slater, Managing Director of CNS, said: “This announcement is testament to the nuclear experience and expertise we have here at CNS.

"We will continue to work closely with the MOD throughout this site selection process and remain committed to maintaining an open dialogue with our stakeholders and the local community.’’

The MOD will be launching a 12 week public consultation in November, in advance of a final decision being made in 2015.

If selected, CNS’s role in the MOD project would involve developing a management solution for the interim storage of the steel Reactor Pressure Vessels (RPVs) that will be removed from 27 defuelled
nuclear submarines, after they have left service with the Royal Navy.

Twelve of the 27 submarines are currently being stored afloat at the Devonport dockyard in Devon.

A further seven are being stored afloat at the Rosyth dockyard in Fife, Scotland.

The RPVs will be removed from the submarines at Devonport and Rosyth and then transported to the selected management facility, which is potentially at Capenhurst, for interim management in advance of final disposal at the UK’s planned Geological Disposal Facility.

Following an assessment of all the UK’s nuclear sites, five sites were considered suitable and placed on a provisional shortlist.

Capenhurst on the Cheshire-Wirral border is on the final shortlist - unchanged from the provisional list published in February - along with Sellafield in West Cumbria,  Atomic Weapons Establishments at Aldermaston and Burghfield in Berkshire, and Chapelcross in Dumfriesshire.

A spokesman for the MOD said: "Our analysis has not presented any grounds for discounting any of the sites at this stage. 

"This final shortlist will be taken forward as the basis for detailed assessment including public consultation, which will be carried out locally around each candidate site, as well as nationally."

Public consultation will begin on November 14 and end on February 20, 2015.