With EDF’s parlous finances and France nationalising EDF – decision on Britain’s planned Sizewell C nuclear station has been delayed
A decision on a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk has been
delayed again by the government. French energy company EDF wants to build
Sizewell C, a £20 billion two-reactor nuclear plant, next to Sizewell B. A
decision on Sizewell C was expected today (7 July), but it has been pushed
back to 20 July at the latest. Paul Scully MP said: “I have decided to set
a new deadline of no later than 20 July 2022 for deciding this application.
This is to ensure there is sufficient time to allow the Secretary of State
to consider the proposal.”
On Wednesday, the French government announced
the state was taking full control of EDF, in a drive to boost its domestic
nuclear expansion.
Reacting to the delay, Alison Downes, of campaign group
Stop Sizewell C, said it would have been farcical if a decision on Sizewell
C had been made today, following the news from Paris. She added: “We also
hope that announcements of EDF’s re-nationalisation have given ministers
pause, especially when EDF’s parlous finances are at least in part down to
their disastrous track record at building the type of reactors proposed for
Sizewell C.”
ITV 7th July 2022
Rolls Royce lacking investment for its planned small nuclear reactors
Nuclear: Rolls-Royce lacking investment for its SMRs. The manufacturer
presented its short-list of British sites to launch the manufacture of its
small modular reactors. But the technology is far from ready.
L’Opinion 6th July 2022
https://www.lopinion.fr/international/nucleaire-rolls-royce-en-manque-dinvestissement-pour-ses-smr
”Allerdale Community Partnership” now looking very much like a nuclear front group, – Nuclear Free Local Authorities reveal
| The Allerdale Community Partnership may boast that its latest appointees are ‘independent’, but, as the Nuclear Free Local Authorities have discovered, a little research reveals their business links to the nuclear industry. The Community Partnership is the lead local body working in partnership with Nuclear Waste Services, an arm of the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, to determine if Allerdale could become the location for a Geological Disposal Facility, an underground or undersea dump for Britain’s toxic legacy of nuclear waste. Now the Community Partnership has announced the appointment of four new board members, three are individuals, Adrian Davis-Johnson, Phil Davies, and John Coughlan, whilst the fourth is an organisation, the Cumbria Youth Alliance. In its March recruitment drive, the Allerdale Community Partnership pledged to appoint new members that were ‘both representative (of the local community) and diverse’, but the three appointed individuals all have a long history of working for or providing services to the nuclear industry. NFLA 5th July 2022 https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/nuclear-free-local-authorities-question-independence-of-allerdale-appointees-linked-to-nuclear-industry/ |
Seventy years after first UK atom bomb, time to right this ‘criminal wrong’, says NFLA
As the international community and civil society marks the fifth
anniversary of the adoption of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons tomorrow (7 July), the Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written
to the Prime Minister and Minister for Veterans Affairs calling for urgent
recognition and compensation for Britain’s atom and nuclear bomb test
veterans.
NFLA 6th July 2022
Julian Assange files new appeal fighting extradition to US.
Washington Examiner. by Ryan King, Breaking News Reporter, July 01, 2022
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is appealing the United Kingdom’s order to extradite him to the United States.
Two appeals were filed in the High Court of Justice in London to challenge the extradition, and the court will decide whether to evaluate the case, Assange’s attorney Gareth Peirce announced, according to the Wall Street Journal……………………………………
Friday was the deadline for Assange to appeal the extradition order, according to the BBC. He is being held at Belmarsh prison in London.
His lawyers claimed that he could face up to 175 years behind bars if he stands trial in the U.S., but the U.S. argued he will likely face between four and six years.
A myriad of groups championing freedom of the press urged the U.K. not to extradite Assange, arguing that doing so could set a bad precedent and hamper press freedoms in the future. For example, the International Federation of Journalists has expressed concerns the move could pose a “chilling effect” on journalists worldwide.
“The US pursuit of Assange against the public’s right to know poses a grave threat to the Fundamental tenets of democracy, which are becoming increasingly fragile worldwide,” the group said. “Irrespective of personal views on Assange, his extradition will have a chilling effect, with all journalists and media workers at risk.”
“The case sets a dangerous precedent that members of the media, in any country, can now be targeted by governments, anywhere in the world, to answer for publishing information in the public interest,” the group added.https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/julian-assange-files-appeal-fighting-extradition
Could nuclear plant ruin Suffolk haven for avocets, bitterns and harriers?
Guardian, Robin McKie Science editor 3 July 22, The Bittern Hide at the RSPB’s Minsmere reserve was doing steady business last Wednesday. More than a dozen birdwatchers were crammed into the elevated shelter which overlooks a broad band of heath, freshwater pools and reed beds stretching to the Suffolk coast. Marsh harriers swirled overhead and an occasional bittern swept across the landscape. In front of another nearby hide, avocets waded leisurely across a lagoon. Minsmere is an ornithologist’s paradise.
But a threat hangs over its wildlife glories. In a few days, the government is set to announce its decision on whether to allow the Sizewell C nuclear power plant to be built by EDF on land that overlooks the 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) reserve.
Threat to the wetlands
Approval will trigger the go-ahead for one of Europe’s biggest construction projects, and the impact on the reserve will be intense. New roads and a temporary port may be built, and dozens of huge cranes erected across land that borders Minsmere. For at least a decade, construction of the giant plant’s twin nuclear reactors will proceed – day and night.,,,,,,,,,,
Minsmere, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is rated as one of the UK’s finest wildlife reserves, though its origins are unusual. At the beginning of the second world war, it was decided the area’s low-lying farmland should be flooded as a protection against German invasion. After the war ended, it was discovered that avocets, which had been extinct in the UK for more than 100 years, had started nesting there.
“At the time, there was all sorts of pressure being put on landowners to drain land and boost food production in the UK in the years after the war,” added Rowlands.
“However, in the end it was decided to keep the area as a natural mix of shingle beaches, coastal lagoons, grazing marshes and woodland. The RSPB took this over in 1947. Essentially, the land was rewilded, long before the term became an ecological buzzword.”
Many rare species, such as the marsh harrier and the bittern, found precious refuge at Minsmere. However, it was the return of the avocet that had the greatest impact. After a century’s absence from Britain, the black-and-white wader, with its distinctive up-curved beak, established a small colony at Minsmere. From there it spread slowly across the nation. Today, there are about 1,500 breeding pairs in the UK and the bird is now depicted in the RSPB’s emblem, a symbol of hope in the cause of saving threatened bird species.
Nor are avocets, bitterns and marsh harriers the only Minsmere residents. Otters, water voles, kingfishers, nightjars, woodlarks, Dartford warblers, adders, natterjack toads and silver-studded blue butterflies have also made homes on the reserve. “It is the range of habitats that makes Minsmere special,” said Rowlands. “There are reed beds, wet grassland, ditches, coastal shingle, woodland, heather heathland and acid grassland. This is a precious space.”
The prospect of a vast construction project proceeding on adjacent land, therefore, causes concerns. In Somerset, where EDF is building the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, about 1,600 workers are on site every day; 3m tonnes of concrete and 230,000 tonnes of steel will eventually be used to make the new power plant while the site is dominated by giant 40-metre (130ft) cranes. The construction of its twin at Sizewell C will be identical in scale.
Sizewell C will also require vast amounts of water for its workers, and to make the concrete needed for its construction. It is not clear where this water will come from in an area where supplies are already stretched.
After its completion, even greater amounts will be needed to cool its reactors. “There is also the issue of the warm water leaving the reactor,” said Rowlands. “That could have a significant impact on the marine environment on the coast at Minsmere, affecting the populations of fish and shellfish there and the birds that feed on them.”……………….. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/02/could-sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-ruin-minsmere-rspb-suffolk
Nuclear Free Local Authorities join in Seminar ‘Sizewell C: More Questions than Answers’
As decision day nears on the Sizewell-C development, the Chair and
Secretary of Nuclear Free Local Authorities will be joining local
campaigners opposed to the new build plan at a special conference in
Saxmundham on Saturday 2 July.
Councillor David Blackburn and Richard
Outram are amongst a line-up of speakers who will talk on a range of topics
related to the proposed Sizewell-C and Bradwell nuclear power plant
developments.
The public conference titled ‘Sizewell C: More Questions
than Answers’ is being hosted by local campaign group, Together Against
Sizewell C, at Saxmundham Market Hall, High St, Saxmundham, IP17 1AF from
10am until 1.30pm on Saturday 2nd July. The decision by the Secretary of
State Kwasi Kwarteng to award a Development Consent Order for Sizewell-C is
expected on 8 July, but it is anticipated to be a formality as the Minister
and his Government have already made repeated statements in favour of the
project and have pledged to take a 20% stake in the plant.
Sizewell-C has been in the news recently with media reports that the government’s French
backers, EDF, are threatening to pull out if Ministers do not make a
cast-iron commitment to take their stake by 21 July; that trades unions are
lobbying Minsters for the same commitment citing a threat to jobs; and
because of a spat between Lord Deben, Chair of Parliament’s Climate Change
Committee, and EDF over his challenge to their competence in building new
nuclear power plants and the suitability of the Sizewell-C site.
The prospects for Bradwell in Essex are even more uncertain as Chinese
involvement in British nuclear projects has now been vetoed by the
Government, with a former Conservative Party leader pointedly describing
them as ‘not a trusted vendor’.
NFLA 27th June 2022
UK govt scratching for money for new nuclear, hires Barclays to search for investors.
UK ministers tap Barclays to secure investment for new nuclear plant. https://www.ft.com/content/4adac154-2a6d-4f13-95b1-a1b8592aa1fe
Search for 60% of facility’s financing comes as government aims to boost domestic energy supply Nathalie Thomas in Edinburgh and Jim Pickard in London .
UK ministers have hired Barclays to lead a search for investors willing to back a large new nuclear power plant at Sizewell on England’s east coast as part of a push to secure more domestic energy sources, according to four people familiar with the appointment. The government is keen to forge ahead with a 3.2 gigawatt plant, capable of generating electricity for 6mn homes, at Sizewell in Suffolk as part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s aim to build eight nuclear reactors by 2030.
Ministers have drawn up plans with Sizewell’s promoter, French state-backed EDF Energy, for a new company to replace the current joint venture that has been working on the Suffolk plant. Both the government and EDF would each take a 20 per cent stake in the new company. Bankers at Barclays have been tasked with finding investors to cover the remaining 60 per cent, according to people familiar with the plans.
The revised structure would force out the Chinese state-backed nuclear company CGN from Sizewell C. CGN owns 20 per cent of the current joint venture, with EDF holding the remaining 80 per cent. But UK ministers want to avoid further Chinese involvement in British nuclear facilities, given a deterioration in diplomatic relations between London and Beijing in recent years. CGN is already funding a third of the cost of the Hinkley Point C plant that is under construction in Somerset and upon which Sizewell C is based.
But nuclear industry experts say the government will have to tread carefully as CGN’s expertise will remain crucial to delivering Hinkley Point C. The company’s Taishan nuclear power plant in southern China was the first in the world to operate using a Franco-German European Pressurised Reactor technology that is being installed at Hinkley, and more than 100 Chinese engineers have been at work on the Somerset facility. Hinkley Point C is already running years behind schedule and billions over budget. EDF said in May that the plant’s estimated construction budget had ballooned by a further £3bn to between £25bn and £26bn, compared with an estimate of £18bn when it received the go-ahead in 2016. The first reactor is not expected to start generating electricity until June 2027.
Anger at dangerous nuclear convoys through Lancashire and Cumbria
An unmarked military convoy has sparked fury from campaigners after it was
spotted trundling down a motorway. The procession of olive-green military
trucks was spotted through parts of Lancashire and Cumbria while on its way
to Scotland, and some have been left furious by the “dangerous convoys”
carrying nuclear goods. A convoy of the trucks is said to have passed
Kirkham, Preston, Garstand, Lancaster, Kendal, Penrith and Carlisle on its
way to Scotland.
Daily Star 30th June 2022
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/very-dangerous-nuclear-warheads-spotted-27362768c
Marine Management Organisation Put “On Notice” Should they Rubber Stamp Possibly “Unlawful” Seismic Blasting Plan in Irish Sea — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND
The Marine Management Organisation are, any day, due to give their decision on Nuclear Waste Services seismic blasting plan for the Irish Sea. A report condemning Nuclear Waste Services plan for seismic blasting has been funded entirely by contributions from the public and written by renowned marine expert Tim Deere-Jones. The threat to the supposedly […]
Marine Management Organisation Put “On Notice” Should they Rubber Stamp Possibly “Unlawful” Seismic Blasting Plan in Irish Sea — RADIATION FREE LAKELAND
While Biden Gives Ukrainian Army “The Most Lethal Weapon,” War Profiteer BAE Systems Stock Soars
During the 2020 U.S. election campaign, BAE Systems donated $569,202 to Democratic Party candidates, and $452,594 to Republicans, according to opensecrets.org.
Joe Biden received $102,591 compared to $94,966 for Donald Trump.
This amounts to chump change for the company: Shares in BAE Systems have reached an all-time high since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising by 28 percent over ten weeks to give BAE a stock market value of £24 billion and putting it among the largest 25 companies in the Financial Times Stock Exchange.
CovertAction Magazine. By Jeremy Kuzmarov, June 27, 2022
Sending Ukraine a $300 million shipment of powerful M-777 howitzers is a lobbying triumph for BAE Systems, one of the many war industry corporations fattening on the death and destruction of the Ukraine war
n June 15, the Biden administration announced that it was providing an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a package that includes shipments of M-777 howitzers, ammunition and coastal defense systems.
While that announcement was being made, the Ukrainian army was shelling Donetsk, the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic, with the U.S.-supplied howitzers along with French guns, according to The Donbass Insider, killing five civilians and wounding seven firefighters.
The attacks were being carried out from Ukrainian positions in Peski, a village not far from Donetsk airport.
According to a video produced by journalist Patrick Lancaster, a U.S. naval veteran who has reported on the war in eastern Ukraine over the last eight years, there were no military targets in the areas shelled by the Ukrainian army, only civilians.
Bringing Ukraine Closer to Victory?
Consistent with a society that used military technologies to subdue the native populations, most Americans subscribe to the belief that new superweapons can deliver salvation in wars.[1]
They ignore the dictum of German theorist Karl von Clausewitz that war is “politics by other means,” meaning that victory can only be achieved by aligning with the right side—which does not appear to be the case for Ukraine.
The New York Times characterized the M-777 howitzer—which made its debut in Afghanistan in 2005—as “the most lethal weapon the West has provided [to Ukraine] so far.”
Highly portable by land, air and sea, it can fire as far as 40 kilometers away or 25 miles—further than Russia’s primary artillery system—and is capable of striking within 10 meters of a target when coupled with the M982 Excalibur precision guided munition, which Canada has sent to Ukraine.[2]…………..
The American Legion reported that the United States had already sent 108 M-777 howitzers to Ukraine before the most recent aid package was signed by President Biden.
The Pentagon claimed that the howitzers had an immediate impact upon their arrival on May 8, enabling the Ukrainians to “go on the counter-offensive in the Donbas” and “take back some towns the Russians had taken in the past.”
Colonel Roman Kachur, commander of Ukraine’s 55th Artillery Brigade, told The New York Times that “this weapon [the howitzer] brings us closer to victory. With every modern weapon, every precise weapon, we get closer to victory.”
However, The New York Times reported on June 20 that Russian forces “appeared poised to tighten the noose around thousands of Ukrainian troops near two strategically important cities in the Donbas,” mounting an “assault on Ukrainian front lines.”[3]
So a Ukrainian victory appears far off.
The Russian Interior Ministry reported that it had destroyed U.S.-made howitzers through use of attack drones.
Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter wrote that Ukrainian dependence on Western artillery they were unfamiliar with resulted in a ten-fold disparity in firepower with Russia which was destroying Ukrainian defensive positions with minimal risk to its troops.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the Ukraine War could “last for years,” meaning we are looking at another Vietnam.
Merchants of Death
The M-777 howitzer is made by the U.S. division of BAE Systems, the largest arms manufacturer in Europe, which has supplied Ukraine with 400,000 rounds of munitions, anti-tank guided missiles and armored vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft missiles.
Former CIA Director Gina Haspel, who observed waterboarding at a CIA black site, sits on the company’s Board of Directors.
In March, BAE Systems ironically bankrolled an arms fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where sanctioned Russian weapons makers showed off some of the weapons they were using in Ukraine, including tanks, helicopters and drones.
During the 2020 U.S. election campaign, BAE Systems donated $569,202 to Democratic Party candidates, and $452,594 to Republicans, according to opensecrets.org.
Joe Biden received $102,591 compared to $94,966 for Donald Trump.
Additional recipients of BAE’s largesse included such anti-Russia hawks as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA—$7,373); Steny Hoyer (D-MD—$10,000), Chuck Schumer (D-NY—$5,605); Liz Cheney (R-WY—$3,259 and another $5,500 in 2022); Jamie Raskin (D-MD—$4,089); Adam Schiff (D-CA—$8,036); Mitch McConnell (R-KY—$9, 289), James Inhofe (R-OK-$13,300) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC-$11,383).[4]
So far this year, BAE Systems has spent $940,000 on lobbying Congress; in 2021, it spent $3.63 million.[5]
This amounts to chump change for the company: Shares in BAE Systems have reached an all-time high since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, rising by 28 percent over ten weeks to give BAE a stock market value of £24 billion and putting it among the largest 25 companies in the Financial Times Stock Exchange.
In a blatant conflict of interest, a number of Tories in England’s Upper House of Parliament—notably Lord Glendonbrook, Viscount Eccles and Lord Sassoon, and unaffiliated peers Lord Lupton and Lord Gadhia—each own shares of at least £50,000 in BAE Systems.[6]
Samuel Perlo-Freeman, research coordinator for the campaign against the arms trade, said that BAE Systems “like other major world arms companies, are seeing their share prices soar in response to the war on Ukraine, as European countries prepare to massively rearm, doubling down on the very militarism that has created so much death and suffering in Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere.”[7]
In May, BAE Systems’ CEO, Dr. Charles Woodburn, told investors: “We see opportunities to further enhance the medium-term outlook as our customers address the elevated threat environment.”
Which really means that, by antagonizing the Russians, great profits can be made in the Ukraine War and any compromise or diplomatic solution that might end the war should be rejected.
References: ………………………………………….. https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/06/27/while-biden-gives-ukrainian-army-the-most-lethal-weapon-war-profiteer-bae-systems-stock-soars/1
Assange’s wife sounds alarm over his treatment
Assange’s wife sounds alarm over his treatment, https://www.rt.com/news/557738-assange-wife-treatment-extradition-us/ 27 June 22.WikiLeaks founder was subjected to ‘especially cruel’ treatment after extradition to US was approved in UK, Stella Moris has said.
Julian Assange was strip-searched and moved to a bare cell on the very day the UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition to the US, the WikiLeaks founder’s wife, Stella Moris, told journalists on Thursday. The 50-year-old remained there for a weekend as prison guards searched his own cell, she added.
“Prison is a constant humiliation but what happened on Friday felt especially cruel,” Moris, who married Assange in March, has said, adding that the guards had told their inmate that it had all been done “for his own protection.”
According to Moris, the guards were looking for any things that could be used by a person to take their own life. In the bare cell where Assange was placed, the guards checked his status every hour until he was allowed to return to his cell on Tuesday.
The WikiLeaks founder currently remains in the maximum security Belmarsh Prison in south-eastern London, having been placed there in April 2019 as the UK was deciding on his extradition to the US. On June 17, Patel approved his transfer to US custody.
A British court had initially refused the extradition request on the grounds that Assange may otherwise kill himself, or that he’d be subjected to inhumane treatment in US detention. But Washington successfully appealed the ruling, offering the UK assurances that the Australian’s rights would be observed.
“The fact he is imprisoned while this outrageous extradition proceeds is a grave injustice in itself. He needs to deal with all that, while preparing for a complex appeal to the High Court,” Moris said. Assange still has a right to appeal the decision within 14 days of June 17.
“This kind of thing never becomes more tolerable. Any person would find it degrading. The mental strain on Julian is enormous as it is, having to process what is essentially a death sentence,” Moris said, adding that extradition to the US would “drive him to take his own life.”
It is not some “regular discussion about mental health,” she has insisted, adding that “we are talking about driving a person to take their own life.”
Moris, who has two children with Assange, has vowed to “use every available avenue” and “every waking hour fighting for Julian until he is free.” John Rees, a leading member of the campaign aimed at making the authorities free Assange has also branded Patel’s ruling “illegal” and said the WikiLeaks founder’s supporters “need to redouble our efforts to stop the extradition.”
The UK Home Office said last week that the British courts “have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr. Assange,” adding that they also believed his rights would be observed.
Assange has been a target for the US since 2010, when WikiLeaks published a trove of State Department cables and Pentagon documents that depicted alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has since been accused of attempting to hack Pentagon computers and is charged under America’s Espionage Act, over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified materials. If extradited to the US, he might face up to 175 years behind bars.
‘Lacking in scientific rigour’: Damning verdict of marine expert on UK’s Nuclear Waste Services seismic testing plan
Radiation Free Lakeland (RFL) and the Nuclear Free Local Authorities
(NFLA) have announced the publication of a report by a renowned marine
expert which is highly critical of Nuclear Waste Services’ (NWS) proposal
to carry out a seismic survey in the Irish Sea to further a plan for an
offshore nuclear waste dump.
The report, ‘The West of Copeland Acoustic
Airgun Survey Proposal: A critical analysis Review Briefing’, was
commissioned by Radiation Free Lakeland and supported wholly through
financial contributions made by members of the public concerned about the
harm that could be caused to marine life by seismic testing.
The report was written by Tim Deere-Jones, a highly-regarded marine radioactivity and
pollution researcher and consultant who has been working independently in
this field since 1983. The NWS, an operating division of the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority, is responsible for finding a site for a
so-called Geological Disposal Facility, either below ground or beneath the
seabed.
This nuclear waste dump will be filled with the toxic radioactive
waste that is the legacy of Britain’s seven decades of the civil nuclear
power production; much of it will remain radioactive for many tens of
thousands of years.
Three search areas in Cumbria, falling within the local
authority areas of Allerdale and Copeland and offshore up to 22kms, are
under consideration. Seismic testing will enable NWS to determine if the
geology beneath the bed of the Irish Sea is suitable to host a repository
for the nuclear waste.
This involves firing blasts of sound from air guns
below the waves every 10 seconds for four weeks or longer. This sound
penetrates under the ocean floor to help scientists discover more about the
suitability of the geology to store nuclear waste. Seismic testing can
seriously impair the health of marine life, which in the Irish Sea includes
whales, dolphins, porpoises, and seals, but some scientific reports also
suggest that even tiny shellfish and plankton can be adversely impacted,
hazarding the whole marine ecosystem.
NWS have claimed an exemption from
the requirement to seek a Marine Licence from the MMO citing their survey
as furthering ‘scientific research’ and in so doing have prevented
public analysis of their proposals or commentary from academics and marine
welfare organisations.
NFLA 27th June 2022
The whole idea of a GDF (geological disposal facility) is flawed thinking and needs to be revisited.
John Laband https://www.facebook.com/groups/radiationfreelakeland 27 June 22, The whole idea of a GDF (geological disposal facility) is flawed thinking and needs to be revisited. CoRWM (committee on radioactive waste management) must face up to the harsh reality that there is no informed expert opinion that doesn’t acknowledge that the physical barrier between the environment and the high level waste material (spent nuclear fuel rods) will likely break down long before the radioactivity has decayed to safe levels.
What went wrong was the way the committee, 10 yrs ago, dealt with all the alternative suggestions for dealing with the waste material and there were about 10 of them. It literally drew a red line through each of the alternative suggestions and there was no discussion about their merits.
The excuse given was that at the time there was no worldwide precedent or experience of each of them. The exception was the GDF plan which already existed in the USA at Yucca mountain in Nevada and the WIPP pilot project in New Mexico. So the UK approach was to jump on that bandwagon and CoRWM has spent the intervening time trying to induce local communities into accepting their plan for an underground nuclear dump. Including attaching the idea to a plan for an undersea coal mine.
Unfortunately for CoRWM the Yucca mountain site has been abandoned. There is nothing there now except a boarded up exploratory tunnel and an accident has happened at the WIPP site leading to radioactive contamination on the surface.
In addition the US is no longer adding to its fund to provide a national disposal site. It has gone back to dry storage of waste on site in concrete casks.
In my opinion CoRWM needs to abandon it’s one track policy and go back to the drawing board and look at all suggested schemes in detail. In the meantime safe modern storage facilities need to be constructed on the surface and a moratorium adopted on the production of anymore waste from fission reactors.
Cancel any further expansion of nuclear electricity generation and scale down existing facilities to zero. We cannot at the moment handle the mounting pile of high level radioactive waste.
1 This Month
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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