Nuclear sector pushes for green light on waste dumps "We must not continue to pass the buck," he says. Finding a permanent "geological disposal facility" where the waste can be buried deep underground is "the only responsible way to proceed." Much of Britain's existing nuclear waste is stored at surface level at Sellafield in Cumbria. January's vote will decide whether investigations into the geological suitability of possible burial sites can continue, with a final decision on the project a decade away. Lord Hutton said that any community that agreed to host the site would gain economic benefits in jobs and investment. "Establishing the facts is in the best interests of both the local community and the nation as a whole," Lord Hutton said. To act otherwise would be an injustice to the majority of local people who do support the project, as well as to future generations. The vote was delayed from October to January 30 as the councils - Cumbria County Council, Copeland Borough Council and Allerdale Borough Council - raised concerns, including their rights to back out of the process at a later date. Opponents of the facility say it would harm the Lake District's image as a tourist destination. The Government insists it will not impose the dump if the local community does not want it. No other areas have yet expressed interest in hosting the waste. Shepway District Council in Kent decided against exploring such options earlier this year and transporting the waste long distances would be controversial. Sir David, who believes the Cumbrian site research should go ahead, told The Sunday Telegraph: "In order to go down the route of significant nuclear power station-building in the UK, we need to ensure that there will be a good storage facility available for nuclear waste." He said that if anti-nuclear campaigners seeking a "no" vote in Cumbria succeeded, they might then mount legal challenges to the wider new nuclear programme which many see as necessary to provide enough energy for the UK's future needs. "They will then say, 'You have no means of managing the nuclear waste and therefore we have to stop all nuclear build,"" he warned. Two senior nuclear industry sources also said they believed there could be legal challenges, which would be likely to centre on the then Labour government's 2008 pledge that new nuclear power station consents would be granted only if "effective arrangements exist or will exist" for their waste. Ministers are thought to be working on plans to try to ensure the new-build programme is not derailed. Final investment decisions and approvals for EDF's proposed nuclear plant in Somerset are expected next year. One source warned a "no" vote in Cumbria in January would be likely to deter a consortium that is at the early stage of planning a new plant in the county, as it would have to invest hundreds of millions of pounds before seeking planning permission. "Why would you risk spending that sort of money if you don't trust the local community to support you?" the source said. If there is no waste depository in Cumbria, there will no new-build in Cumbria. A spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change acknowledged the Cumbrian vote was "important" but said: "The invitation for communities to come forward remains open, whatever the outcome of the vote in Cumbria. There are huge investment opportunities to be gained from hosting a geological waste facility.