First Minister Alex Salmond yesterday defended plans by the Scottish Government to create up to six new nuclear waste stores north of the border.

Mr Salmond said the proposals were a "responsible policy" which would minimise the environmental impact of the waste by taking away the need for it to be transported to its current dumping ground in Cumbria.

The proposals were contained in the National Planning Framework which was published by John Swinney, the Finance Secretary, last week.

It is understood the new stores would be situated next to the nuclear power stations at Dounreay, Hunterston, Chapelcross and Torness.

Separate sites are envisaged at the Rosyth naval dockyard in Fife and the Faslane nuclear submarine base on the Clyde.

British Energy, the company that runs Torness and Hunterston, is opposed to the plans and says the current set-up, which sees all the UK nuclear waste disposed near the Sellafield nuclear plant in north-west England, should be maintained. But speaking yesterday, Mr Salmond said it was only right that Scotland should dispose of its own nuclear waste.

He said: "We are talking about low-level and medium nuclear waste stored in the areas which generate that waste. This is the principle we are putting forward, that people and governments have to take responsibility for their actions and that it is a responsible policy.

"It is one that is being pursued in Scotland of course, in the case of Dounreay, and it is entirely right that we store things safely in the place where they're generated as opposed to digging some massive hole in the ground somewhere and hoping beyond hope that's going to be all right for future generations."

Details emerged days after the UK Government announced its plans to build a new generation of nuclear power plants in England - a move ruled out in Scotland by the SNP administration.

Environmental campaigners said they were happy with government's stance.

Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "This is ironic and awkward, but responsible. Just as the Scottish Government has succeeded in preventing Westminster from imposing a new generation of nuclear power stations, it has to work out what to do with the legacy of Westminster's past nuclear mistakes."

Meanwhile, the government produced figures yesterday which it said proved Scotland did not need new nuclear power stations.

The installed capacity of renewable energy in Scotland was 2731 megawatts, compared with 2400 megawatts of nuclear capacity.

A government source said: "The terms of the energy debate in Scotland have been fundamentally transformed now that we have a government that is able and willing to take forward Scotland's clean, green energy future.

"Given our huge green energy advantages, the figures show beyond a shadow of doubt that it would be madness to go down the road of new nuclear power stations. Scotland's energy future is bright."