Kent's Romney Marsh proposed as nuclear dumping ground.

A vast underground silo for lethal nuclear waste has been proposed for construction under Kent's Romney Marsh. It's a real kick in the teeth for anti-nuclear campaigners and locals who have in fact only recently celebrated the announcement that two Dungeness nuclear power stations are going to be phased out.

Plans for the proposed 250 acre storage facility for the high-level waste of energy and weapons production in Romney Marsh (near to Dungeness) only came to light today (17th). So far the local council claim that they're only testing the waters of public opinion before making any moves, but plans are surprisingly well advanced.

The £12 billion dump would cover an area more than 22 times the size of Wembley Stadium. A network of tunnels up to a 1000m deep would be used to seal up the waste, which would be brought into the area by two trains a week for approximately 80 years. The waste would then be sealed up for ten thousand years until it 'becomes safe'. The debris dug out would be around the same volume as during the construction of the Channel Tunnel.

The Romney Marsh is a 100 square mile wetland and a haven for wildlife, the site of the Dungeness RSPB nature reserve. However, even over and above the obvious eco-objections, nuclear experts warn that the site is geologically unsound for the development as well as being a high flood risk area. Oh, and it's also an earthquake zone.

One man not put off by the idea of some toxic paddling is local Tory councillor Tony Hills. Shepway District Council on the whole also has a history of being pro environmentally destructive mega-developments. While plans for a marsh wind farm were thrown out, it has recently approved an expansion of Lydd airport which would see annual passenger numbers jump from 5,000 to 2 million.

Resistance to the radioactive plans are yet to manifest, but there's bound to be a whole load of people determined to give the Council and the developers their marsh-ing orders.