The Welsh Borderland - Relevance to safety
National Geological Screening for a GDF - The Welsh Borderland region
The screening report hosted on this site is a technical exercise across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. No specific location in England, Wales or Northern Ireland has been identified as a potential GDF site. Any future decision on geological disposal would be subject to community agreement and planning and environmental consents.
Details
Our work shows that we may find a suitable geological setting for a GDF in a small part of this region, but the thickness and properties of the potential host rocks present may not be suitable.
Rock can be seen at the surface in some of the sub-region such as the Malvern Hills and in man-made excavations such as quarries or road cuttings. Combined with some and , this gives us an understanding of the rocks present and their distribution.
There are various types of and we .
There are layers, in which we may be able to site a GDF, to the north of Shrewsbury and to the south of Worcester. We would need to do more work to find out whether these rocks have suitable properties and thicknesses.
Even where individual clay-rich rock layers are found not to be thick enough to host a GDF they may support the siting of a GDF in deeper rocks as they could act as a barrier to from depth. This is important because is one of the ways in which radioactive material could be carried back to the surface.
Some of the subregion has been mined to depths below 100m for coal to the south-west of Shrewsbury, as well as lead, zinc and barite to the north of Bishop鈥檚 Castle. In these areas the mining is likely to have affected the way in which water moves through the rock. Also possible exploration in the future in these areas means that it is more likely that future generations may .
For further information, read the report below.
We have produced a summary of the geological attributes of The Welsh Borderland Region.