Playing Russian Roulette with "Dirty Nuclear Money" is "Pure Blackmail" say Lincolnshire Councillors about Nuclear Dump Bribery.
Meanwhile here in Cumbria local councillors this time around never even got to publicly debate the nuclear dump plans. Perhaps because Cumbrian councillors voices of outrage may be the same as in Lincolnshire where there is deep resentment about the bribery using public money filtered through the nuclear lens. The bribery is necessary to keep councillors on the hook in order to 'stay in the nuclear dump game of Russian Roulette' - will it be here, will it be there - does anyone care? Our own view is that a "Geological Disposal Facility" anywhere should be ruled out until the science catches up with the expediency driven ambition of abandoning high level nuclear wastes deep underground.
In Cumbria only a handful of councillors took a delegated decision to drag Cumbria, a region which has already refused the plans repeatedly, once again into the deep nuclear dump scenario. This is a scenario which has no precedent, there is no operational high level nuclear waste dump anywhere in the world and the science behind the plan is still very much in the experimental stage with a multitude of problems (known and unknown) regarding containment. Problems which may never be resolved. In the UK the industry and government are already looking at cutting corners and "accelerating the process" by using steel rather than steel and copper containment, and increasing the "allowable" heat of the high level wastes to be up to 200 degrees centigrade rather than the previous level of 100 degrees c.
Nuclear Free Local Authorities have written to the so called "Geological Disposal Facility Community Partnership" in Cumbria about how little available land there is on the Lake District's vulnerable and nationally important coastal plain to site the above ground sprawl for a nuclear waste dump. The same situation exists in Lincolnshire - nuclear sprawl for a GDF requires a LOT of land to be taken in context, not just the immediate land but the surrounding areas would be impacted.
Following a first letter concerning Millom and Haverigg, Nuclear Free Local Authorities Chair, Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, has written again to the Chair of the South Copeland GDF Community Partnership and the Nuclear Waste Services Siting and Communities Director asking them to exclude beauty and heritage sites in Drigg from consideration as Areas of Focus.
Drigg is part of the South Copeland Search Area being investigated as a location for a Geological Disposal Facility, which would be the final repository for Britain’s high level radioactive waste currently stored and managed at Sellafield. Low-level radioactive waste is already stored at an existing repository located at Drigg.
Nuclear Waste Services has recently announced that it intends to identify Areas of Focus in South Copeland for more intensive studies; including one which might be selected as the location for a surface facility, approximately 1 km sq, which would receive the nuclear waste shipments before these are taken below ground and out along tunnels under the seabed.
NWS has recently published guidance about how Areas of Focus will be selected.[i] [ii] This recognises that there will be ‘land-use constraints’ excluding certain locations within a Search Area from consideration. ‘These include: – community considerations e.g. avoiding built-up (urban) areas and designated settlement boundaries which could be impacted by noise etc.; and – protected areas and environmental constraints, for example National Parks, National Landscapes, ecologically sensitive/protected areas, areas with higher levels of flood risk, known heritage sites.’
In his letter of the South Copeland GDF Community Partnership Cllr Ged McGrath and NWS Director Simon Hughes, Cllr O’Neill lists the Hallsenna Moor National Nature Reserve, the Drigg Coast and Drigg Holme Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and eight local Grade II listed buildings as meriting exclusion.
All parts of South Copeland which are within the Lake District National Park are already excluded from any GDF development."
DIRTY MONEY
Extract from the Lincolnshire Online : East Lindsey District Council leader defends taking £3m ‘dirty money’ from nuclear body
Published: 16:11, 12 December 2024
A council leader has defended the decision to accept £3 million in funding, which opposition members have dubbed "dirty money".
At a full East Lindsey District Council meeting on Wednesday (December 11), members approved the receipt of funding from the Environment Agency to support the maintenance of the council's coastal defences.
The funding is part of a £9.3 million package provided to the Environment Agency by Nuclear Waste Services, the government body exploring the possibility of building a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF), estimated to cost between £20 billion and £53 billion, at the former gas terminal in Theddlethorpe, near Mablethorpe.
The Theddlethorpe site is one of three locations under consideration, alongside Mid Copeland and South Copeland in Cumbria. In November, director Simon Hughes revealed that competing interests in the gas terminal site had emerged, but no decisions had been reached.
The funding offered to the Environment Agency is intended to support the development of evidence-based plans, strategies, and delivery plans for coastal defences. The £3 million allocated to East Lindsey District Council is proposed to fund necessary works contributing to the overall project scope.
Outraged members labelled the funding as "pure blackmail", warning it could leave the council "in the pocket" of NWS.
Coun Robert Watson (Green Party) cautioned that accepting the funds would mean ELDC "surrenders its independence" to the nuclear agency.
Coun Jill Makinson-Sanders (Independent) echoed these concerns, saying: "If we are taking money from the nuclear people, we cannot fly the flag for being independent." She added: "We will regret it."
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