Radioactive waste from Dungeness in Kent could be transported to the Sizewell A site for storage if plans being discussed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority are adopted.

Waste from Sizewell would also go in the opposite direction for processing, according to the NDA’s “preferred option” for dealing with part of the radioactive legacy of Britain’s first generation nuclear power stations.

The NDA is currently consulting on ways of treating and storing waste classified as of intermediate level which is ultimately destined – along with high level waste – for a deep burial facility at a site in the UK yet to be identified.

Intermediate level waste consists partly of debris created by the removal of highly radioactive fuel elements from the reactors and residues and contaminated components from other parts of the plant.

Current plans are for the fuel element debris (FED) to be treated by immersion in acid in order to reduce volumes, and specialised dissolution plants would be needed.

Under an alternative option, each site would have its own FED dissolution plant and intermediate level waste store.

However, in line with the NDA’s preferred option, the dissolution plant for Sizewell A and Dungeness would be located at the Kent site, with packaged intermediate waste from Dungeness being stored at Sizewell, in a new building, if a similar store at Bradwell is not able to accommodate all of it.

Twenty lorry loads of packaged waste from Dungeness would have to be transported between the Sizewell railhead and the A station site.

Meanwhile, 60 lorry loads would transport the 84 tonnes of Sizewell A fuel debris to the railhead for transfer to Dungeness.

The NDA says there would also be an opportunity for some shared storage with the Sizewell B site.

A spokesman said the preferred option would “make use of existing facilities, ensure a balance of development across the sites, reduce overall environmental impact and reduce costs by about £90million”.

Marianne Fellowes, chair of the Sizewell Stakeholder Group, said members had yet to decide their response. “Personally, I am uncomfortable with the dissolution of FED, wherever it occurs, but the current preferred option to treat it at Dungeness does mean no additional nitrate oxide discharges here.”

Pete Wilkinson, Suffolk environment consultant and former member of a Government committee on radioactive waste management, said he remained opposed to dissolution because, unlike storage, it involved discharges to the environment.

Magnox Limited, the management company for Sizewell A, is hosting two public drop-in sessions about the waste management options. These will be held at the United Reformed Church, Leiston on November 20, from 2pm to 6,30pm, and in Saxmundham Market Hall the next day, from noon to 4pm.