Hinkley Point C: Hundreds down tools over concerns
By Seth Dellow, Bridgwater Mercury 28th Nov 2024
HUNDREDS of workers at Hinkley Point C have stood down today over unresolved concerns.
The action short of strike began at 9am this morning with workers claiming it concerns fingerprint scanners in a small area on site. They have claimed there are only five scanners serving 13,000 workers on site but this is strongly denied by EDF which runs the Hinkley Point site. Electricians, pipe fitters and welders are all said to have walked out.
The number of affected workers could be up to 1,600 as the action only involves some of the MEH workers on site. MEH has contracted staff doing work on the Hinkley Point site.
Earlier, workers claimed between 2,000 and 6,000 workers had walked out.
One electrician, who spoke anonymously to the Bridgwater Mercury, said that workers were “being taken advantage of.”
The nuclear power station is already behind schedule and is expected to be operational between 2029 to 2031.
Workers are planning on taking full strike action on Monday, December 2, 2024, as they say they will be blocked from entering the site because of their actions today.
It follows recent strike action which saw EDF workers walk out over pay concerns. ………………
https://www.bridgwatermercury.co.uk/news/24757425.hinkley-point-c-6-000-workers-walk-concerns/
Channel Islands sign nuclear incident agreement
The Channel Islands and France have agreed to share information in the
event of a nuclear or radiological incident. The agreement was signed
during a meeting between Guernsey and Jersey ministers joined by French
representatives on Monday. It meant if a nuclear or radiological incident
was to occur in France’s Cotentin Peninsula, the Channel Islands and France
would provide information for emergency planning purposes, officials said.
BBC 26th Nov 2024,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2e79x12m4po
Very ambitious’: regulator’s view of 2027 Bridgend nuke power plant plan
25th November 2024, https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/very-ambitious-regulators-view-of-2027-bridgend-nuke-power-plant-plan/
Despite the hype from American developer Last Energy, this was the verdict of the Office for Nuclear Regulation in response to a question posed by the NFLA Secretary about the company’s plan to have a micro nuclear reactor plant licenced and operational at Bridgend by 2027.
Last Energy remains optimistic, boastful even, that it will be able to secure permission to install four of its 20-megawatt pressurised water micro modular reactors on the 14-acre site of the former Llynfi power station site within three years.
But there are still many hoops through which for the company must jump; historically, nuclear power projects have been delivered significantly behind schedule.
The Nuclear Installations Act 1965 places the primary responsibility for the safety of a nuclear installation on the licensee. The Office for Nuclear Regulations ‘regulates the design, construction and operation of any nuclear installation in Great Britain for which a nuclear site licence is required’ under the act.
To obtain a Site Licence, Last Energy must demonstrate ownership or secure tenure of the site, the safety of their design, their plans to safely, securely and efficiently manage operations throughout the whole lifecycle of the plant from inception to post-closure, and their organisational capacity to so. This includes having detailed plans in place for the management and disposal of radioactive waste and around emergency planning[i].
A Site Licence comes with 36 Standard Conditions, covering design, construction, operation and decommissioning, against which Last Energy will continue to be monitored by the nuclear regulator.[ii]
In its guidance handbook, ‘Licensing Nuclear Installations’, under Section 83, the ONR has identified that ‘it might take several years from site licence application to the completion of our assessment. This is subject to adequate and timely submissions from the applicant and the level of maturity of implementation of the applicant’s arrangements’.[iii]
Last Energy will also need to secure an operating permit from National Resources Wales, working with the Environment Agency, and planning approval from the Welsh Government with sign off from a Minister.
As well as the regulatory challenges, Last Energy also faces some practical ones.
Michael Jenner, Chief Executive of Last Energy UK, is reported recently to have said in an interview with New Civil Engineer[iv] that the PWR-20 reactor comprises around forty modules that are manufactured off-site, trucked to the site, and assembled within twenty-four months. But to the best of the NFLA’s knowledge the company has yet to build an operating prototype and there is no manufacturing facility in place to fabricate the parts, even in the USA. We have written to Last Energy to provide them with an opportunity to correct us.
In a welcome development, Last Energy has affirmed its commitment to consult with local communities, and has announced the first two public consultation events to run as follows:
- A drop-in public engagement on Wednesday 27th November 2024 from 9.30am until 5pm at the Bettws Life Centre, Bettws Road, Bettws, Bridgend CF32 8TB
- A project presentation followed by questions and answers on Thursday 12th December 2024 from 7pm to 9pm at the main lecture theatre at the Steam Academy, Bridgend College, Pencoed Campus, Bridgend CF35 5LG
This is a project that the Welsh NFLAs will continue to want to watch.
Ends:// For more information, please contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
[i] https://www.onr.org.uk/media/30nh5c0f/licensing-nuclear-installations.pdf
[ii] https://www.onr.org.uk/media/gixbe2br/licence-condition-handbook.pdf
[iii] https://www.onr.org.uk/media/30nh5c0f/licensing-nuclear-installations.pdf
[iv] https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/interview-micro-reactor-developer-optimistic-about-connecting-south-wales-project-by-2027-08-11-2024/
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Mystery drone spotted over British aircraft carrier
A mystery drone has been spotted following a British aircraft carrier at
sea after unmanned aerial vehicles were seen hovering over three air bases
in England.
An unidentified 1.5 by 1.5 metre drone appeared to tail the
Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth as it entered the port of Hamburg,
in Germany, on Friday. The German military positioned guards around the
port and attempted to target the drone with HP-47 jammers before it flew
away, the German newspaper Bild reported.
On Saturday, the US Air Force
also revealed that “small unmanned aerial systems” flew over RAF
Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, as well as RAF Feltwell, in
Norfolk, last week.
Telegraph 24th Nov 2024, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/11/24/russia-ukraine-zelensky-putin-war-latest-news58/
East Suffolk Council offering grants to convert homes to accommodate nuclear workers.
By Dominic Bareham, East Anglian Daily Times 23rd Nov 2024
Homeowners in east Suffolk are being offered the chance to access grants of up to £7,000 to provide accommodation for workers at the new Sizewell C nuclear power station.
Two new grant schemes, administered by East Suffolk Council, are set to open soon – with the first, the Renovation Grant, supporting the conversion of homes, spare rooms, annexes or non-residential buildings into safe and suitable accommodation for Sizewell C workers.
Under this scheme, up to £7,000 is available per bed space to cover structural works, electrical wiring, heating installation, windows and doors, plumbing, installing kitchen and bathroom facilities and additional parking………………………………………………….
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/24745238.east-suffolk-council-offering-grants-convert-homes/
Consultation, full disclosure, and an environmental audit: Nuclear Free Local Authorities’ triple demand of Australian government over nuke sub waste dump down under
the NFLAs have raised our fundamental objections to any siting of nuclear powered, and possibly nuclear armed, submarines at Garden Island as a violation of Australia’s legal commitments as a signatory to the Treaty of Rarotonga, which established a South Pacific nuclear free zone. The proposal will increase military tensions with China and make Rockingham a target for a counterstrike should war break out.
a White House paper states that Australia ‘has committed to managing all radioactive waste generated through its nuclear-powered submarine program, including spent nuclear fuel, in Australia’.
NFLA 22nd Nov 2024
With an international outlook and solidarity in mind, in response to a consultation by the Australian Federal Government, the UK / Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities have posted their objections to plans to station nuclear-powered subs and establish a waste dump in Western Australia.
As part of the AUKUS military pact established between Australia, the United Kingdom and United States, Australia intends to acquire a fleet of nuclear powered submarines, powered by reactors built by Rolls-Royce in Derby, as well as permitting Royal Navy and United States Navy nuclear submarines to operate from Australian naval bases.
In March 2023,the AUKUS Nuclear-Powered Submarine Pathway was announced by the three partners centred on the HMAS Stirling Naval Base on Garden Island in Western Australia’s Cockburn Sound. The Australian Government has allocated AUS $8 billion for base improvements.
Under the AUKUS ‘Force Posture Agreement’, from 2027, US Virginia Class submarines are to be stationed here, with British Astute submarines joining them on rotation in the 2030’s. Around this time, the base will also become the home port of Australia’s first nuclear powered submarines, with three and up to five Virginia Class submarines being purchased from the US (subject to Congressional approval).
The Federal Government has passed new legislation to allow for the domestic storage of nuclear waste from all these submarines, and in July after a limited consultation the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) issued a licence to the Australian Submarine Agency to prepare a nuclear waste storage site at the base. Without it, visiting United States and British nuclear-powered submarines could not undertake maintenance in Australia, so the nuclear dump is seen as essential to the pact.
The extent and nature of the waste to be stored, and for how long it would be stored, remains unclear. The Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) complained to the regulatory authorities that: ‘The consultation documents provided no details about the volume of waste or how long it would be stored at the island. They also made confused and misleading claims about the types of low-level waste that would be accepted’.
Whilst regulators insist that it would be low-level waste, this claim has been refuted by critic Australian Green Senator David Shoebridge who said the Federal legislators were told in a Senate Estimates Hearing by the Australian Submarine Agency that it would include intermediate waste. It is also contradicted by a White House paper which states that Australia ‘has committed to managing all radioactive waste generated through its nuclear-powered submarine program, including spent nuclear fuel, in Australia’.
This waste would include US Virginia-class submarine reactors, which each weigh over 100 tonnes and contain over 200 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. Ian Lowe, an expert on radiation health and safety, told The Conversation in March 2023 that when the first three AUKUS submarines are at the end of their lives — 30 years from when they are commissioned — Australia will have 600 kilograms of ‘spent fuel’ and ‘potentially tonnes of irradiated material from the reactors and their protective walls’. The fuel being weapons-grade will require ‘military-scale security’.
Australian campaigners have also complained bitterly that the submarine base and the storage site are located in the wrong place.
Mia Pepper, Campaign Director at the CCWA, said that ‘Garden Island in one of the most pristine and diverse environments in the Perth region’ and that ‘This plan for both nuclear submarines and nuclear waste storage will inevitably impact access to parts of Cockburn Sound and Garden Island’.
And when responding to ARPANSA, the CCWA stated that the facility is ‘within an area of dense population’ and in the vicinity of ‘important and diverse heavy industrial facilities, including a major shipping port’. The CCWA also raised the ‘unaddressed community concerns regarding an accident’ on the site and complained about the ‘lack of transparency and rigour’ throughout the regulatory process.
Nor is there any long-term solution to storage. Garden Island would be seen as a temporary store, but it is unclear for how long. A Federal Government proposal to establish a nuclear waste dump at Kimba was resisted by local Indigenous people who launched a successful legal challenge to defeat the plan.
In its response to the consultation being conducted by the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the NFLAs have raised our fundamental objections to any siting of nuclear powered, and possibly nuclear armed, submarines at Garden Island as a violation of Australia’s legal commitments as a signatory to the Treaty of Rarotonga, which established a South Pacific nuclear free zone. The proposal will increase military tensions with China and make Rockingham a target for a counterstrike should war break out.
We also called on the Federal Government to conduct a proper consultation and make a full disclosure of the facts, and requested that officials conduct a full environmental audit of the likely impact of the waste storage site…………………………………………. https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/consultation-full-disclosure-and-an-environmental-audit-nflas-triple-demand-of-australian-government-over-nuke-sub-waste-dump-down-under/
Fleet of drones is spotted over major US airbase in Britain where they are building facilities to house nuclear weapons
Daily Mail , By LES ROOPANARINE, 24 Nov 24
The largest American airbase on British soil was buzzed by drones this week, the US Air Force has confirmed, amid unconfirmed reports that fighter planes were dispatched to intercept the encroaching aircraft.
The incident occurred on Wednesday above RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, which has been earmarked as a storage facility for US nuclear warheads three times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
While US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) played down the incursion, it will do little to dampen the prevailing mood of unease following warnings from Vladimir Putin that Ukraine’s use of British and American long-range weaponry could see military facilities in those countries targeted.
…………….USAFE declined to comment on either claims that flight operations were affected or the reported deployment of F-15E Strike Eagles.
‘To protect operational security, we do not discuss our specific force protection measures, but retain the right to protect the installation,’ the spokesperson added.
RAF Lakenheath, which appears poised to house US nuclear weapons for the first time in 15 years, is home to the 48th Fighter Wing and a site of major strategic significance as the US moves to bolster its European presence in the face of Russian expansionism.
Earlier this year, unredacted documents from the US Department of Defence’s procurement database showed that the Pentagon has ordered equipment, including ballistic shields, for the airbase.
The construction of facilities to house US soldiers at Lakenheath, where the drone incursion follows similar activity above the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in northern New Jersey two days earlier.
The American army has revealed that it is developing special ammunition to shoot down spy drones, with helicopters and tanks to be equipped with medium-calibre rounds capable of hitting small, high-speed targets.
‘There’s not enough air defence assets out there,’ Major General John T Reim, the Picatinny Arsenal’s commanding general, told military website Task and Purpose last month…………………
The developments follow warnings from Russian officials that British support for Ukraine, which this week fired UK-supplied Storm shadow missiles into Russian territory for the first time, could ‘lead to a collision between nuclear powers’……
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14117587/drones-spotted-airbase-Britain-RAF-Lakenheath-nuclear-weapons.html
Thornbury MP fights for Hinkley Point environmental protections
Claire Young is rallying to preserve essential environmental protections.
Lewis Clarke, 21 Nov 24
An MP has joined South Gloucestershire Council in calling on the Secretary
of State for Energy, Security, and Net Zero to block plans to remove
important environmental protections from the Hinkley Point C project.
In a letter to Ed Milliband, Thornbury & Yate MP Claire Young has expressed her
concern about proposals to remove Acoustic Fish Deterrent measures from the
project – warning that millions of fish, and connected wildlife, could be
affected by the plans. This is not the first time removing this
environmental mitigation tool has been proposed, with a similar push to do
so being blocked back in 2022 due to the impact it would have on local fish
stocks.
Bristol Live 21st Nov 2024, https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/thornbury-mp-fights-hinkley-point-9686572
Nuclear Industry Association members seek to expand into weapons sector
“defence is being seen as a major source of growth for the nuclear industry.”
“If the industry’s hopes for a new generation of civil reactors does not materialise, it could end up being the only source of growth.”
By Tom Pashby New Civil Engineer 22nd Nov 2024
The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) is exploring ways to aid firms involved in civil nuclear projects to attain opportunities in nuclear weaponry, at the request of its members.
The NIA describes itself as the trade association “for the UK’s civil nuclear industry” and has more than 280 member companies from “across the supply chain to ensure more nuclear power is deployed”.
In a post from the trade association titled Update from NIA Chair Dr Tim Stone, CBE, Stone said he had commissioned an independent review of the scope, work and structure of the NIA “in the context of changes in the sector”.
He pointed in particular to “the advent of Great British Nuclear”, the new government and “the development of greater international and direct industrial interest in nuclear”.
In addition to the trends noted by Stone, construction of Hinkley Point C is well underway and Sizewell C is anticipating a final investment decision in 2025.
Meanwhile, the AUSUK submarine agreement has been , which will see the UK supporting with the building of new nuclear-powered submarines for Australia, has been launched.
On the UK’s domestic military site, the UK Government is committed to expanding its stockpile of nuclear warheads from 225 to 260 under the Integrated Review 2021.
………………………..One of the areas of interest which NIA members requested more focus on was nuclear weapons and military applications of nuclear power.
…………………. the NIA has run events in partnership with nuclear security technology firm Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) “to help engage the wider supply chain in opportunities there”.
Additionally, the NIA is co-ordinating activity with both the aerospace, defence and security trade associations ADS and Make UK Defence “to broaden understanding”, with there being “some exciting initiatives under development aimed at simplifying work across the sector”.
…..AWE was recently renationalised and is responsible for renewing and building new warheads for the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon programme.
…………………..Concerns raised about links between nuclear power and weapons industries
Nuclear industry and weapons experts said the letter is evidence of increasingly close collaboration between the civil nuclear power and nuclear weapons sectors.
University of Sussex professor of science and technology policy Andy Stirling said it “provides yet more evidence of pressures to hide military costs behind supposedly civil nuclear activities”.
“In a recent study funded by the Foreign Office, research showed that resulting added burdens falling on taxpayers and electricity consumers, amount at least to £5bn per year,” Stirling Added.
The study referred to was titled Irreversible nuclear disarmament – Illuminating the ‘UK Nuclear Complex’: Implications of hidden links between military and civil nuclear activities for replacing negative with positive irreversibilities around nuclear technologies and was published by the University of York in March 2024.
Strling went on: “By concealing in this way the full costs of the UK military nuclear industrial base, democracy is undermined, energy strategies misdirected and climate action made slower, more expensive and less effective.”
The Nuclear Information Service (NIS) investigates the UK’s nuclear weapons programme and publishes “accurate and reliable information to stimulate informed debate on disarmament”.
NIS director David Cullen said: “In recent years we’ve seen an increased frankness in defence policy documents about the linkages between the civil and military nuclear sectors, both in terms of skills and supply chains.
“With the [UK’s] new Astrea warhead programme gathering steam, and working beginning on AUKUS, it’s unsurprising that defence is being seen as a major source of growth for the nuclear industry.”
The A21/Mk7 or Astraea is the next generation of nuclear warheads being manufactured by AWE in the UK. It will be installed on top of Trident missiles, which are manufactured by Lockheed Martin and carried by Vanguard-class submarines, built by BAE Systems Marine.
Cullen continued: “If the industry’s hopes for a new generation of civil reactors does not materialise, it could end up being the only source of growth.” https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/nuclear-industry-association-members-seek-to-expand-into-weapons-sector-22-11-2024/
UK Sees Privatization ‘Opportunities’ in Ukraine War
A recent project update from the Foreign Office is explicit about the goals. It states these should see “the invasion not only as a crisis, but also as an opportunity”
privatisation ……..can create private monopolies, reduce accountability to government and overcharge the public.
British aid is being used to open up Ukraine’s wrecked economy to foreign investors and enhance trade with the UK.
DECLASSIFIED UK, MARK CURTIS, November 21, 2024
Amid the devastating war in Ukraine, British economic aid to the country is focused on promoting pro-private sector reforms and on pressing the government to open up its economy to foreign investors.
Recently-published Foreign Office documents on its flagship aid project in Ukraine, which supports privatisation, note that the war provides “opportunities” for Ukraine delivering on “some hugely important reforms”.
The government in Kyiv has in recent months been responding positively to these calls. Last month, president Volodymyr Zelensky signed a new law expanding the privatisation of state-owned banks in the country.
It follows the Ukrainian government’s announcement in July of its ‘Large-Scale Privatisation 2024’ programme that is intended to drive foreign investment into the country and raise money for Ukraine’s struggling national budget, not least to fight Russia.
Large assets slated for privatisation currently include the country’s biggest producer of titanium ore, a leading producer of concrete products and a mining and processing plant.
Ukraine envisaged privatising the country’s roughly 3,500 state-owned enterprises in a law of 2018, which said foreign citizens and companies could become owners.
The process stalled as a result of coronavirus and then Russia’s invasion in February 2022. But hundreds of smaller-scale enterprises are now being privatised, bringing in revenues of UAH 9.6bn (£181m) in the past two years.
“The resumption of privatisation amid the full-scale war is an important step, which is already yielding results,” Ukraine’s economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said last month.
Another law enacted in June 2023 allows large-scale assets to be sold to foreigners or Ukrainians during the current martial law regime.
‘Good governance’
Britain’s main economic aid project in Ukraine runs from 2022-25 and is called the Good Governance Fund. One of its aims is to ensure that “Ukraine adopts and implements economic reforms that create a more inclusive economy, enhancing trade opportunities with the UK”.
A recent project update from the Foreign Office is explicit about the goals. It states these should see “the invasion not only as a crisis, but also as an opportunity”…………………………………………………………………
Advancing privatisation
One key strand of the Good Governance Fund project is direct support to privatisation in Ukraine.
This involves a seven-year sub-programme called SOERA (State-owned enterprises reform activity in Ukraine), which is funded by USAID with the UK Foreign Office as a junior partner.
SOERA works to “advance privatization of selected SOEs [state-owned enterprises], and develop a strategic management model for SOEs remaining in state ownership.”
UK documents note the programme has already “prepared the groundwork” for privatisation, a key plank of which is to change Ukraine’s legislation. ………………………………………………………………
Declassified made a freedom of information request asking the Foreign Office to provide the briefing notes for then foreign secretary James Cleverly for the conference. It replied saying the request was “too broad”.
“The UK is hoping to reap benefits for UK firms from Ukraine’s reconstruction”, observes a report on British aid to Ukraine earlier this year by the aid watchdog, ICAI.
Conditionality
Britain’s privatisation agenda in Ukraine is part of a wider push by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which routinely promote privatisation in low income countries, often as a condition of providing aid.
Zelensky’s recent announcement on state-owned banks is based on World Bank recommendations and gives international donors a role in selecting financial advisers for the sales.
……………………………………….Rustem Umyerov, the head of the State Property Fund, which presides over Ukraine’s privatisation strategy, said in July that “international partners support the start of large-scale privatization and are ready to facilitate pitches to the business communities in their countries.”
……Foreign investment in rebuilding Ukraine’s economy is being coordinated by the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock.
…………………privatisation ……..can create private monopolies, reduce accountability to government and overcharge the public.
The key goal for Western states supposedly ‘aiding’ Ukraine’s privatisation process is to find access to new markets, and to bring Ukraine into their commercial orbit, fully detaching it from their rival, Russia.
A sign that the Ukrainian public needs persuading about this Western-backed privatisation is that the US/UK’s SOERA project includes a public relations dimension. One of its goals is to “assist the government in strategic communications to enhance reforms”. https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-sees-privatisation-opportunities-in-ukraine-war/
UK Defence secretary to seek ‘missing’ nuclear test records
Dominic Casciani, BBC, 16 Nov 24
Defence Secretary John Healey has launched an investigation into whether there are long lost or hidden documents that reveal military chiefs secretly monitored the health of men who witnessed nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s.
John Healey told MPs that while “nothing is being withheld”, officials would carry out a “detailed dig” amid concerns from the surviving veterans.
The pledge comes after the BBC screened a special documentary on Wednesday into allegations that there has been a decades-long cover-up of how the nuclear testing programme harmed personnel.
Alan Owen, one of the leaders of the men’s campaign said the decision was a “brilliant” step forward after years of battles for answers.
Survivors in their 80s say many of them and their children have suffered cancers, genetic defects and other illnesses that must be linked to radioactive fall-out.
Similar claims have been made by indigenous communities in Australia where many of the tests were conducted.
For decades, successive governments have denied there was a secret monitoring programme – but the veterans say recently declassified files support their memories of medical staff taking blood and urine samples.
Speaking to Parliament’s Defence Committee, Mr Healey said the investigation would not be straight-forward and records may have been lost…………………………………………………………………………………… https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg7g4z0jxneo
Norfolk MP criticised for ‘anti-nuclear’ stance for Bacton
Steff Aquarone, North Norfolk MP, has been criticised for his “negative”
stance on plans to create a nuclear reactor in Bacton. Norfolk MP
criticised for ‘anti-nuclear’ stance for Bacton. An MP has been attacked
for not being “more open-minded” over his staunch anti-nuclear stance after
plans emerged that could see a reactor built in a coastal village.
Eastern Daily Press 22nd Nov 2024, https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/24741752.norfolk-mp-criticised-anti-nuclear-stance-bacton/
NFLA submarine champion raises concerns over Clyde Tritium contamination
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to the Defence Secretary and the Head of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency over recent revelations that radioactive tritium discharges from nuclear subs operating in the Clyde are on the increase.
Investigative journalist Rob Edwards recently published the damning findings in award-winning paper The Ferret[i]. The latest data from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s Scottish Pollution Release Inventory[ii] shows that emissions of the radioactive gas, tritium, from military nuclear operations on the Clyde into the air and sea have more than doubled over the last six years.
His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde in Scotland is home to the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service. When not at sea on patrol, the navy’s four Vanguard and five Astute nuclear powered submarines are berthed at Faslane. Whilst Astute are conventionally armed submarines, the Vanguards are each equipped with Trident missiles with nuclear warheads deployed on a rotational basis as a so-called ‘continuous-at-sea deterrent’.
Eight miles from Faslane across the Gare Loch at Coulport is the shore facility where the missiles and warheads are stored. These are fitted or removed from the submarines at an explosive handling jetty, with warheads being periodically and controversially taken by road convoys to and from Aldermaston for maintenance.
21st November 2024
NFLA sub champion raises concerns over Clyde Tritium contamination
The Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to the Defence Secretary and the Head of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency over recent revelations that radioactive tritium discharges from nuclear subs operating in the Clyde are on the increase.
Investigative journalist Rob Edwards recently published the damning findings in award-winning paper The Ferret[i]. The latest data from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s Scottish Pollution Release Inventory[ii] shows that emissions of the radioactive gas, tritium, from military nuclear operations on the Clyde into the air and sea have more than doubled over the last six years.
His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde in Scotland is home to the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service. When not at sea on patrol, the navy’s four Vanguard and five Astute nuclear powered submarines are berthed at Faslane. Whilst Astute are conventionally armed submarines, the Vanguards are each equipped with Trident missiles with nuclear warheads deployed on a rotational basis as a so-called ‘continuous-at-sea deterrent’.
Eight miles from Faslane across the Gare Loch at Coulport is the shore facility where the missiles and warheads are stored. These are fitted or removed from the submarines at an explosive handling jetty, with warheads being periodically and controversially taken by road convoys to and from Aldermaston for maintenance.
Emissions of radioactive tritium from the associated Royal Naval Armaments Depot on Loch Long into the air have risen steadily from 1,770 megabequerels (MBq) in 2018 to 4,224 MBq in 2023, whilst the Faslane base discharged over 50,000 MBq of tritium contaminated effluents into the Clyde between 2018 and 2023; this peaked at 16,609 MBq in 2020.
The NFLAs have always been concerned about the long-term impact on human and marine animal health of exposure to radioactive contamination, and have repeatedly challenged the practice by military and civil nuclear authorities of discharges into the air, land and watercourses.
Discharges of tritium are an especial concern. Tritium has been found in sewage, waste and ballast water expelled by the submarines. It is also found in reactors and is an essential component of nuclear warheads. The Vanguard submarines are very old and their crews are being stretched by testing patrols which are getting longer. Old boats are more likely to leak and tired crews are more likely to make mistakes.
Dr Ian Fairlie, an expert on radioactivity in the environment, who has previously advised the UK government, told The Ferret that he found the emissions “worrying”. Dr Fairlie explained why: “First, they are large, more than four billion becquerels per year; second, they are steadily increasing; and third, they are of tritium – which is very hazardous when it’s inhaled or ingested” .
Whilst much of our recent attention has been focused on pushing back against the practices of discharges at Dounreay, Sellafield and Trawsfynydd, the NFLAs’ Spokesperson on Nuclear Submarine issues, Councillor Brian Goodall has used Rob’s revelations to write to Labour’s Defence Secretary, John Healey, and the Chief Executive of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, Nicole Paterson with his questions and concerns.
Most specifically, Councillor Goodall is seeking clarification of the reasons for the increase in tritium discharges and also the steps being taken by the Ministry of Defence to reduce them and – given our previous criticism of the agency’s oversight at Dounreay – by the SEPA to monitor them.
Hunterston B decommissioning approved
The UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted consent to EDF
Energy’s application to start decommissioning the Hunterston B nuclear
power station. This follows a public consultation and a detailed assessment
by ONR specialist inspectors of EDF’s environmental statement.
The
statement included a detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the
proposed decommissioning project at the North Ayrshire site in Scotland,
along with mitigation measures designed to prevent or reduce any
significant adverse environmental impacts.
The EIA identified two
significant impacts during decommissioning: temporary adverse visual impact
of dismantling activities of the power station for local residents and the
socioeconomic effects on the regional employment market and workers at
Hunterston B released from their roles during phases of the project. ONR
said it is satisfied that the environmental statement proposes adequate
mitigation measures to address these factors and considers the statement to
be complete, of the right quality, and in line with relevant good
practices.
Nuclear Engineering International 19th Nov 2024 https://www.neimagazine.com/news/hunterston-b-decommissioning-approved/
Somerset church would ‘become’ island if ‘ham-fisted’ Hinkley saltmarsh plans go-ahead
Sunday 17th November
Somerset church would ‘become’ island if ‘ham-fisted’ Hinkley saltmarsh
plans go-ahead. Steve Bridger (Yatton, Independent), a local councillor for
the village on North Somerset Council, told a full meeting of the council
on November 12 that the plan was “ham-fisted.”
He said: “Landowners
who would be directly impacted by the proposals were sent letters in
September, completely out of the blue, with a rather threatening tone
talking about compulsory purchase of their land.” When Somerset’s new
nuclear power station was granted planning permission, it was told to
install speakers to scare off fish from getting sucked into its cooling
systems.
But EDF now says this would be “dangerous to install,” and
wants to compensate for the 44 tonnes of fish expected to die each year by
creating 340 hectares of saltmarsh along the Severn. Peter Burden
(Portishead South, Conservative) told the council chamber: “It is crazy,
chairman, to destroy habitat to mitigate for killing fish.”
West Somerset Free Press 17th Nov 2024, https://www.wsfp.co.uk/news/somerset-church-would-become-island-if-ham-fisted-hinkley-saltmarsh-plans-go-ahead-739509
1 This Month
Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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