A SOON-to-be-launched public consultation into plans for a new nuclear power station will be lacking into crucial technical detail, a campaign group has claimed.

The public will be invited to give its views on plans for the three-reactor Moorside plant, near Sellafield, from next month.

However, the Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment (Core) group says that the absence of details surrounding the plant's seabed cooling tunnels and marine facilities will leave the public "shortchanged".

Core spokesman Martin Forwood is urging NuGen - the consortium behind the plans - to extend its consultation period beyond its scheduled July 30 end date to allow this information to be included.

Mr Forwood said: "Running the consultation without detailed offshore cooling system information is no better than submitting a plan for a new house that doesn’t show the external mains water, drainage and sewage systems. 

"To invite people to ‘have your say’ on a half-baked plan makes a mockery of the consultation and will undermine public confidence. Tempting consultees with an artist’s fairytale impression of what Moorside will look like does nothing to compensate for short-changing consultees on crucial details."

NuGen is hosting 28 public drop-in sessions during its upcoming 11-week consultation period. A full list of times and venues is available at www.nugenconsultation.com.

Fergus McMorrow, NuGen's planning lead in Cumbria, said: "It is extremely important that everyone gets an opportunity to comeand have their say about the project.

“This consultation is the second of two public consultations. The first took place over 10 weeks from May 2015 and we welcomed over 1,800 people through the doors of our events. 

"The second stage is an opportunity for the public to see how the project has developed, taking into account the feedback that we received last year.”

The firm hopes construction will begin in 2020 and the first reactor would go on stream four years later. A total of 21,000 jobs will be created during the lifetime of the plant.