A COMPANY which applied to build a plant in Wantage has denied reports that it would store nuclear waste there if given planning permission.

The managing director of Reviss Services, Ian Latham, said the company would store radioactive material cobalt at the plant and could store caesium and iridium if it were given permission.

But, he said, this was all academic, as the proposed site for the new plant at Wantage is no longer for sale.

Reviss Services is a partly Russian-owned branch of UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Mr Latham said his company produces waste material for the sterilisation of medical goods.

The company applied to the Vale of the White Horse District Council to build what Mr Latham describes as a state-of-the-art facility.

"But two weeks ago the landlord said he no longer wanted to sell the land to us," said Mr Latham. "We have not withdrawn the application and will wait to see if we are given permission in principle."

The application has brought concerns from environmentalists who warn it could create the prospect of waste being transported through Swindon. Swindon's Friends of the Earth co-ordinator, Jean Saunders, said: "One of the routes is from airports and docks, up past the M4, off at junction 15 and up the A420.

"The company says the vehicles transporting the material will withstand all kinds of accidents and incidents, but how many times have we heard that before?"