Salmond and Westminster head for more confrontation

Up to six new stores for nuclear waste are planned for Scotland in a move which will create a new confrontation between the Scottish government and Westminster.

Scottish ministers - who have already effectively blocked Westminster plans for new nuclear power stations north of the Border - believe waste from our existing power stations should be kept in Scotland rather than transported to a dump near Sellafield in Cumbria.

Both the UK government and British Energy, which operates the nuclear power stations, are opposed to the move.

The SNP government is considering building long-term storage facilities at or near to existing nuclear sites. This means that Hunterston in North Ayrshire, Torness in East Lothian and Dounreay in Caithness could all end up with waste stores, along with possibly Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway, Rosyth in Fife and Faslane in Dunbartonshire.

The plans have been criticised by the nuclear industry, which wants to carry on disposing its waste at Drigg near Sellafield in Cumbria. But they have been welcomed by environmental groups as the "least-worst" solution.

"This is ironic and awkward, but responsible," said Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland. "Just as the Scottish government has succeeded in preventing Westminster from imposing a new generation of nuclear power stations, it has to work out what to do with the legacy of Westminster's past nuclear mistakes."

According to the Scottish government, new stores are needed because Drigg is filling up and will not be able to cope with future decommissioning waste. In line with agreed policy, Dounreay had already been chosen for such a store.

"Further facilities, which may be needed in the south of Scotland, will be developed in line with that policy," a government spokesman told the Sunday Herald.

Sites have not yet been formally identified but insiders said they were likely to be near existing nuclear plants.

The spokesman added: "Proposed additional facilities would minimise the transportation of nuclear waste across Scotland and, potentially, the rest of the UK. It is our view that the transport of these materials should be minimised."

The latest nuclear waste inventory, compiled for the government in 2004, showed that 367,000 cubic metres of packaged low- and medium-level waste are expected to arise at six sites in Scotland. Most is at Dounreay, followed by Hunterston and Chapelcross, where old reactors are being decommissioned.

There are smaller amounts at Torness, Scotland's newest nuclear station, and at the Rosyth naval dockyard, where defunct nuclear submarines are laid up. The least waste is expected to arise at the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.

The National Planning Framework, unveiled by ministers last week, pointed out that additional facilities would also be required for more dangerous high-level waste. Scotland has rejected Westminster's idea of burying this waste deep underground in a single facility.

"Scottish government policy on higher activity radioactive waste is currently being developed," says the planning framework. "However, in accordance with the proximity principle, it is likely that facilities to manage this waste will be required in areas close to the source of origin."

It adds: "Radioactive waste also arises from the healthcare sector, the oil and gas industry and educational establishments. At present, certain types of waste are sent to England because no disposal route exists in Scotland."

The waste plans have been dismissed by British Energy, the company that runs Hunterston and Torness. "We don't agree with the Scottish government's proposals," said a spokeswoman. "We support the current UK framework."

WWF Scotland's acting director Dan Barlow said: "It is sad that as a result of our energy history we have a considerable legacy of nuclear waste to deal with. However, it is only right that we take responsibility for seeking to ensure the safe storage of this waste that we have generated here in Scotland."