The West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership says it remains confident "an acceptableprocess" can be put in place to mitigate any negative impacts of a proposed underground repository.
The NBA fight has clearly been a multipronged one, with big market and small market owners lacking unanimity over acceptable terms for much of the process, and players divided over whether the latest offer is sufficient.
Having received no acceptable offer after conducting an unprecedentedly open process with clearly articulated requirements, it is time for us to move forward on a stand-alone basis.
He said assurances he had sought through the cabinet secretary that the franchise process was being conducted properly had turned out to be wrong which was "not acceptable".