nuclear-news

A motion calling on the government to suspend the licence allowing mud excavated from the construction site of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset to be disposed of just off the Welsh capital is to be debated next week in the national assembly for Wales.

The development prompted Cian Ciarán, the keyboard player from Super Furry Animals, to discontinue an attempt on Tuesday to obtain a court injunction to stop the dumping.

There is growing concern and anger that 300,000 tonnes of sediment from the Hinkley Point C site is being disposed of at the Cardiff Grounds sandbank.

Campaigners claim the mud has not been tested properly and could contain particles that may pose a health risk. They have described the sediment as “nuclear mud” and nicknamed the sea off Cardiff “Geiger Bay”, a play on Tiger Bay, the old slang name for the city’s docklands. One of their main concerns is that the sediment could be washed ashore in a storm.

Welcoming the assembly debate, Ciarán said: “This Labour government has taken the Welsh people for granted and has risked the health of the nation. For me the core message of the campaign remains unchanged: the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence and therefore the precautionary principle should dictate a rethink. We will continue to seek the answers the Welsh public deserve.”

He called for the Welsh government’s patrol vessel, FPV Rhodri Morgan, to monitor the dumping that is taking place. “It is a duty for every Welsh assembly member to do right by its people and hold to account the government that granted the licence,” he said.

Neil McEvoy, an independent assembly member, has accused the Welsh government of being out of touch on the issue. If the dumping does not cease, he wants boat owners to form a “people’s flotilla” to take direct action and blockade Cardiff Grounds………https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/02/hinkley-point-c-nuclear-mud-case-dropped-after-debate-secured