A radioactive waste dump in Buryakovka, Russia

The government was today accused by Greenpeace of having a haphazard approach to dealing with nuclear waste.

The accusation followed a briefing by David Miliband, the environment secretary, who accepted recommendations by the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) that nuclear waste should be dumped deep underground.

Nathan Argent, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said: "There's already enough nuclear waste in this country to fill the Albert Hall five times over. And CoRWM's report clearly states that burying nuclear waste in a hole in the ground is not a sure-fire solution to deal with this enormous problem.

"Yet, unbelievably, the government was pushing for a series of new nuclear reactors, which would quadruple the amount of the most highly radioactive waste, before CoRWM's report was published.

"And it could take several generations to find a so-called suitable disposal site, if indeed at all. Therefore a period of interim storage will be inevitable, meaning nuclear waste will continue to be trundled around the country for decades.

"This is a repeat of the reckless attitude that the industry has had for the past 50 years which has landed us in the mess we are in now. Such a haphazard approach to nuclear waste clearly indicates that this Government has yet to learn that, when in a hole, you should stop digging."

There is no disposal site operating anywhere in the world for high level radioactive waste.

Greenpeace has recently launched a legal battle against the government's energy review, which backed a new generation of nuclear power plants. Earlier this month, Greenpeace lodged legal papers at the Royal Courts of Justice in London arguing that the Government did not carry out the full public consultation' it had committed itself to before making a decision to back new nuclear power stations.

ENDS

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.