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Storage is to be built, on site, for intermediate waste from the decommissioning, and the storage at Sellafield will cease.

The waste, both solids and liquids, emanate from in and around the reactor and will remain radioactive for up to 300 years.

The reactor itself is classed as intermediate level waste and will be the last bit to be removed, with no time scale yet agreed for that phase of the work.

Over 40 years after the building of Dungeness A, the government still does not know what to do with the waste. It is now going to stay on site, until a site can be found.

Shepway Liberal Democrat Council Group Leader, Lynne Beaumont, said: "I am astonished at this decision to store intermediate nuclear waste on Romney Marsh. Dungeness will become a nuclear dumping ground. One of the most beautiful parts of our Country has been designated for the storage of nuclear waste.

"We have always known that low level waste was going to be stored at Dungeness after decommissioning, but intermediate waste is completely different. How many local people are aware of this? How do they feel about what's happening on their doorstep, without being told. How many people will feel safe in their beds when they know this waste is being stored just down the road?

"The real cost of nuclear power is coming home."