nuclear-news

University of Cumbria, Nuclear Waste, AI / Bitcoin and a Strange Tale of Tapping Epstein for Money.

On February 5, 2026 By mariannewildart, https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/university-of-cumbria-nuclear-waste-ai-bitcoin-and-a-strange-tale-of-tapping-epstein-for-money/

The University of Cumbria is playing a “central role in a new £4.9 million nuclear robotics and AI cluster,” part of a consortium with the UK Atomic Energy Authority, University of Oxford and University of Manchester to develop a new nuclear robotics and AI cluster, linking Cumbria and Oxfordshire.

Awarded £4.9 million, the cluster is the largest of seven new research projects supported through an overall funding package of £22 million. This is from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Place Based Impact Acceleration Account (PBIAA) scheme. The robotics will of course end up as nuclear waste with the ultimate plan to dump the radioactive doggy robots in a big hole under the Lake District coast. The University of Cumbria has never made any comments that there should be no nuclear waste dump under the Lake District coast or that there should be no new nuclear waste, no new nuclear build. This latest nuclear complicity means that they are now hugely compromised and it would be a brave university professor (we do live in hope) to speak out against using the Lake District coast as a giant heat sink in which to dump hot nuclear robots.

Some years ago I was stood outside Gail Bradbrook’s (XR Leader) talk in Kendal leafletting against the (now rejected) coal mine near Sellafield with a nuclear waste barrel costume on.  Professor Bendell walked past with his head down clearly not wanting to take a leaflet from a person in a nuclear waste barrel. When I did a bit of research I found that Professor Bendell is known is some circles as “Professor Bitcoin.” The University of Cumbria where he is “Professor of Sustainability Leadership” was the first in the world to accept student’s tuition fees in bitcoin. Whats wrong with that?Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies use enormous amounts of energy and are also the key to AI. 

Prof Bendell has written long-winded deflections online regarding his connection to Epstein. Prof Bendell said he was introduced to Epstein through the Gates Foundation which does seem to be the case. Telling Epstein that his past was a problem in 2013 however does not seem to be reflected in the released files. Correspondence continues over several years. 

The explanation above has been accepted by Jem’s followers of whom there are many.

A closer look reveals that Prof Bendell was keen to tap Epstein for money on behalf of the University of Cumbria in order to fund the Professor’s and the Uni’s interests in Bitcoin. This keenness for Epstein funds went so far as to the Professor sourcing a 5013c ( a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association, or organisation exempt from federal income tax) through which to accept “donation/s from Epstein.

This was in 2012 a full four years after Epstein pleading guilty in 2008 of procuring a child for prostitution, amongst other things. Epstein was convicted of only two crimes as part of a controversial plea deal agreed by the U.S. This was widely reported in 2008 but in 2012 was not a red flag for Bendell despite the University of Cumbria’s safeguarding policy. 

Bizarrely, one of the exchanges between Jem and Jeffrey includes both men saying they would not want to go to jail for the sake of “alternative exchange systems’ ie digital currency.

February 9, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Education, secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK