CLAIMS by anti-nuclear campaigners that 19 sites in York and North Yorkshire could be considered as places to dump nuclear waste have been dismissed as "ridiculous".

Dozens of Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaign posters have been plastered on lamp-posts and road signs in Elvington, near York, many of which have been partially torn down. They ask: "Future nuclear waste dump?"

The 19 sites including Elvington, Strensall Common and Linton-on-Ouse were earmarked as potential nuclear waste dumps in the 1980s and 1990s.

But fresh fears have been raised, after the Government's Committee On Radioactive Waste Management released draft recommendations in April, claiming the best long-term solution for the disposal of the UK's nuclear waste should be to bury it deep in the ground. The final report will be delivered in July.

Nathan Argent, a Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaigner, said the pressure group was concerned that the old site list would now be examined as a potential list of sites for the future.

He said: "This list of sites was drawn up in the 1980s but, with the Government looking to push ahead with a new generation of nuclear reactors, it is becoming more pressing that they find a way to dump radioactive waste.

"We are concerned about what they will do with it."

But David Wild, director of communications for Nirex, the agency charged with nuclear waste dumping, said the old list of sites had been scrapped and there was no site list in the UK at the moment.

He accused campaigners of "scaremongering".

"This is a totally disgraceful attempt at the lowest form of scaremongering. People need to know that this is an old list and they must not be misled by a group of people who are purposely trying to frighten the public."

But concerned Elvington resident Richard Claxton said: "If Blair gets his way it will quadruple the amount of nuclear waste we will have to dispose of, so that long list may be a very significant issue in the future. They will have to find more sites if they have more waste to dispose of. What we are not being told is that this could mean having underground waste disposed of at a site near you.

"The type of dump being proposed by Nirex is not guaranteed as a fail safe it will be impossible to contain the radioactive materials indefinitely and contamination will eventually leak back into the environment as the storage containers deteriorate.

"A dump in North Yorkshire would not only mean having highly radioactive waste dumped in the community, but also that nuclear waste from all over the UK would regularly pass along our roads and rail lines."

There were 537 sites on the original list, which were whittled down to a short list of 12 over four stages.

Scientists knocked out 333 sites at the first stage because they had "obvious deficiencies" which were mostly environmental. A further 39 sites were knocked out because the land was not publicly owned, and 48 were deemed too small. Geological evaluation and detailed comparison of sites reduced the list to the final 12, none of which were in York and North Yorkshire.