nuclear-news

Cumbrian angst over nuclear waste disposal plan

HUNDREDS TURN OUT TO MARYPORT NUCLEAR DUMP MEETING http://www.timesandstar.co.uk/news/politics/hundreds-turn-out-to-maryport-nuclear-dump-meeting-1.1016584?referrerPath=/tsnewsfeed117079, 23 November 2012 People in West Cumbria have 10 weeks to influence a key decision on whether the area should look to host an underground nuclear waste dump.

That was the message from Aspatria councillor Bill Finlay at a public meeting attended by more than 250 people on Wednesday. The meeting at Maryport’s Wave Centre was organised by campaign group Solway Plain Against Nuclear Dump (Spand).

It heard from geologists Professor David Smythe and Professor Stuart Haszeldine about the potential consequences of building an underground repository.

Cumbria County, Allerdale and Copeland councils have spent four years
considering the possibility and on January 30 are due to decide
whether to investigate whether the area has suitable geology.

But the professors claimed that research for the Nirex inquiry in the
1990s had already ruled out the whole area.

Prof Haszeldine, of the University of Edinburgh, said: “We know more
about the underground geology of this part of the UK than any other
part.” Dr Jeremy Dearlove, a geologist employed by the West Cumbria
Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, recently published
documents which suggested that two rock types in West Cumbria could
potentially be considered.

They are Eskdale and Ennerdale granite in Copeland and the Mercia
Mudstone Group, found under the Solway Plain.

Prof Haszeldine said water running off Cumbria’s mountains and through
fault lines meant that nuclear waste could not be stored below ground
without risk of contamination.

Heat from radioactive waste would increase the number of cracks, he said.

He said there was no proven way of containing the waste in a sealed
building which would not be compromised.

A 2010 map from the British Geological Survey (BGS) ruled out a
quarter of West Cumbria as geologically unsuitable, but the professors
warned that it did not mean areas not covered by the map were
suitable.

A copy of the draft map, leaked to Prof Smythe from within the BGS,
showed that initially the whole of north Allerdale was to be ruled
out.

Once the final map was published, however, an area around Silloth and
the Solway Plain had been removed from the confirmed unsuitable areas.

Prof Smythe said building a nuclear dump covering an area the size of
Carlisle would create massive waste spoil with toxic chemicals which,
when excavated, could seep into watercourses and the sea.

Both professors said large areas of eastern England were more
geologically suitable than West Cumbria, with London providing the
best rock type.The three councils were due to decide whether to
proceed to the next stage last month but paused the process.

They want more certainty from the Government on legal issues such as
the area’s right to later withdraw from the process and the certainty
of any community benefits available.

Spand chairman John Hayward, of Skinburness Road, Silloth, said the
group was not against nuclear power or the principal of an underground
repository.

Its concern was the possibility that a nuclear dump could be pushed
through by the Government in an area where the geology would not be
safe, leading to a blight on the landscape, community and tourism.

He urged people to write to county council cabinet members and
district council executive members who will make their decision in
January.

County council leader Eddie Martin was among those at the meeting.

Coun Finlay, who as an Independent Allerdale councillor has no say in
the decision, urged objectors to inform councillors that they would
not vote for anyone who supported staying in the dump project.

Referring to the 10 weeks until the decision, he added: “If a week’s a
long time in politics, you’ve got an eternity to show your influence.

November 25, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, wastes