WASTE from Oldbury Power Station could be stored just a few miles away at the Berkeley nuclear plant over the next three decades.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is currently considering various options to reduce the overall cost and environmental impact of the decommissioning process at several plants in the UK, including Oldbury and Berkeley.

No large geological disposal facility will be built and be up and running until at least 2040 and to reduce the cost associated with the construction of temporary storage plants, the agency is proposing to keep the waste in the region for the time being.

There are a total of eight options to store intermediate level waste (ILW).

Four of them suggest allowing Oldbury to store its waste in ductile cast iron weather-proof containers on its site. The others lean toward retrieving and transporting the packaged waste to Berkeley.

Bill Hamilton, head of stakeholder communications for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, said: "We are looking at a number of options so no decisions have been taken. A final decision won't be taken until next spring.

"This is until a permanent disposal route is found. There is no site for it yet and the government does not have an opening until 2040."

Berkeley, which has a much larger amount of waste, will store its own, as it was deemed that moving it off-site to another power station would be costly and unnecessary.

"Berkeley has more of this waste than any other site," Mr Hamilton added. "It would not make much sense to move this waste."

As part of the proposed alternatives, Berkeley could also be used by other stations such as Hinkley Point A or Dungeness A.

The waste strategy, which will affect six plants, is expected to cost between £40 and £78 million to roll out nationwide depending on the option adopted. The NDA will select its preferred option, after a public consultation period has ended, at the end of 2013. It will review its choice and make a final decision in 2014.