In 1997, on the day the general election was announced, the people of West Cumbria won a great victory against NIREX , the arm of the nuclear industry charged with solving the waste problem. John Gummer, Secretary of State for the Environment announced the refusal of planning consent for their planned Rock Laboratory, preparatory to excavating a hole in the ground to bury nuclear waste. Their plan had failed for many reasons, including unsuitable geology. The Planning Inspector's report is available to view here.
The incoming Labour Government started a whole new process for dealing with nuclear waste, starting with looking at all the possible things one could do with it. The recommended option if it were possible would be to bury it. However their advisors also pointed out that this may never prove possible and therefore much scientific research and a very robust system of surface storage would be necessary which could last many years.
The second part of this advice was largely ignored and the rush to find a site for burial began again as the Government decided that a new generation of nuclear power stations was needed to meet climate change objectives. This in itself is a dubious decision. See the report Corruption of Governance here.
They instituted a policy of "voluntarism" and invited local councils all over the country to express an interest in hosting an underground nuclear waste dump, in return for nebulous "community benefits". Copeland and Allerdale duly expressed an interest and Cumbria County Council expressed an interest with respect to those two areas only. A Partnership was set up to discuss the many issues around volunteering see http://www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk Organisations are invited to join, members of the public are free to attend meetings and can ask questions at the end of the morning or afternoon sessions. Experts are invited in to talk about the issues. It feels like an unstoppable ball has been set rolling.
Friends of the Earth, CORE, Radiation-free Lakeland have refused to join the partnership because they do not wish to add credibility to the process or be hindered by "loyalty" to it.
We are now at the point of public consultation within West Cumbria to help the local authorities make the decision as to whether they should go to the next stage and volunteer. A consultation document has been written, an 8 page summary has been delivered to every household, and they are invited to make comments either on the back of the sheet or online. For those who read the whole document there is an 8 page question sheet. There will also be a telephone survey of a 3000 person random sample within Cumbria. The consultation document has been written advising that the Partnership now feels they have enough information to go to the next stage, the public are invited to agree or disagree with reasons. The partnership also has great faith in the right of withdrawal (the right to withdraw at any stage up until underground work starts). On the DECC website, however, it states that from the very next stage "all partners are expected to work to avoid the need to withdraw".
An opposition organisation Save Our Lake District - Don't Dump Cumbria (SOLD - DDC or SOLD for short) has been set up. The website has lots of information about the problems with the process: see http://mrwsold.org.uk/
The Green Party is developing its radioactive waste policy to deal with this new direction. In the meantime Allerdale and Copeland Green party are working very hard to encourage the councils to withdraw from the process now, before it is too late.
1) writing to the Managing Radioactive Waste Partnership http://www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk/page/94/Introduction.htm
2) writing to your County Councillor (see www.cumbria.gov.uk to find him/her) and to the Nuclear Issues Manager stewart.kemp@cumbria.gov.uk
3) writing to the Lake District National Park Authority (address your message to the CEO Richard Leafe hq@lakedistrict.gov.uk)
1) writing to the Managing Radioactive Waste Partnership http://www.westcumbriamrws.org.uk/page/94/Introduction.htm
2) writing to the Lake District National Park Authority (address your message to the CEO Richard Leafe hq@lakedistrict.gov.uk)
1) Geology
The final barrier between radioactive waste and the surface is the rock where the waste is buried. The topography, geology & hydrogeology of W Cumbria is well understood and is not suitable for a dump. The facts established by the Nirex Inquiry in the mid 1990s have not changed.
2) Safety, Security, Environment and Planning
We are being asked to take on trust that the safety problems involved will be solved at some time in the future and that the regulators will do a good job in policing the project. We have little faith in regulators who are too close to the industry they regulate. There were regulators in Japan before Fukushima, there were banking regulators in the UK before the banking crash.
3) Impacts in West Cumbria
If a dump were to be constructed in West Cumbria, it would ruin the beautiful western landscape of the Lake District National Park with a project the size of the Channel Tunnel.
4) A Community Benefits Package
No specific package has been agreed and anyway nothing could compensate for the loss of landscape value, loss of tourism revenue and loss of income to food producers if the area is blighted by such a massive engineering project and the potential for radioactive contamination
5) Design and Engineering
Leaving the technical and engineering matters to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to solve some time ‘in the future' is a dangerous thing to do. They need to be addressed NOW, and not just by the NDA -who is also responsible for the waste! They must also be subject to independent scrutiny. There is no reason to believe that safety or security can be guaranteed ‘some time in the future'.
6) Inventory
The amount and type of radioactive wastes that will be put in the repository could change over time but is expected to include spent fuel and high level waste from the new build nuclear programme, the high level and intermediate level waste currently at Sellafield, and possibly plutonium, uranium and military materials.
Nowhere in the world is there an operating repository for the kind of waste proposed in W Cumbria. This project is unique in its intention to bury BOTH high-level AND intermediate-level radwaste.
6) The Siting Process
The MRWS process is deeply flawed. Far from communities having a ‘right of withdrawal', if a community doesn't want to proceed with siting, the Government's White Paper says that only the Borough and County Councils have this right. It has also been proposed that powers may be used in the future, by central Government, which could, in the end, impose a dump on a community.
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