Lake District’s Coastal Nuclear Waste Dump Screw Tightens.

"Geology is the ground we stand on; it’s in the food we eat, and in the water we drink.”

1990s: The Nuclear Dump Screw Turns and is Loosened!

Back in 1995 the public body NIREX, Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive, (now Nuclear Waste Services)  had looked at the whole of the UK with an eye as to how to get shot of some of the wastes (not the high level stuff) and decided that a farm near Sellafield was the best place to bury low and intermediate level wastes. 

The “Rock Characterisation Facility” RCF  was dubbed a “Trojan Horse” by campaigners. The RCF was to be a precursor to the planned dumping of low and intermediate level nuclear wastes at approximately 1000 metres deep.  There was an outcry by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Friends of the Lake District, local farmers and others with Cumbria County Council overwhelmingly voting no to the plan.  NIREX of course appealed and an inquiry was held at Cleator Moor between 5 September 1995 and 1 February 1996 with dozens of scientists fielded by NGOs providing evidence that NIREX’s plans to dump low and intermediate level wastes were flawed.   The inspector ruled in favour of Cumbria County Council’s logical decision to say no. The Secretary of State John Gummer agreed with the inspector saying in his decision of March 1997 “'I remain concerned about the scientific uncertainties and technical deficiencies in the proposals presented by Nirex”  in other words the wastes would percolate to the surface sooner rather than later and so the plan was ditched.  So what happens?  Successive Governments double down to include High Level Nuclear Wastes for deep burial.

2001 - 12:  The Screw is Turned Tighter

with even Hotter wastes ..

Roll on a few years to 2001 and NIREX is renamed Managing Radioactive Wastes Safely MRWS  (Now Nuclear Waste Services). During this time Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace in the UK who had done such a fantastic job in the 1990s in scuppering NIREX’s nuclear dump plans withdrew from actively campaigning on nuclear waste.   The two big environmental NGOs told us they were “focussing  priorities on climate issues”.  The Department of Energy and Climate Change was created in 2008 the same year that the nuclear waste dump plan arrived back in Cumbria.   The 2008 plan was now to include High Level Nuclear Wastes as well as the Low and Intermediate wastes.  To greenwash this agenda national treasure, Eric Robson of Gardners Question Time fame was hired  by MRWS for PR services including doing voice overs for the nuclear dump promotional videos.   Radiation Free Lakeland was formed at that time to provide a visible presence and voice of opposition to the plans in the absence of national outrage from mainstream NGOs. The first petition was delivered by RaFl to Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet on 15th September 2011.  

Although the Cabinet were to decide on whether or not to go forward to stage 4 of the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely process the full council were ‘allowed’ to have a debate on the subject in order to inform the Cabinet’s decision.

This is what I wrote about that meeting in September 2012:  “The most important meeting EVER of all 84 members of Cumbria County Council took place yesterday without fanfare. Radiation Free Lakeland (all ordinary people) unfurled a banner and staged a demo before the meeting – they weren’t joined by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, lovers of Lakeland: Melvyn Brag, Lord Clark and Eric Robson or any other Cumbrian heritage, tourism, environment, countryside, wildlife, food and farming representatives – all of whom would be blighted should this juggernaut reach its final destination at the worlds largest nuclear dump… Councillors expressed anger at not being able to vote.  The overwhelming majority of those who spoke opposed the plan”.

One of the most powerful speakers that day was councillor John McCreesh sadly no longer with us.
“Geology is a tricky thing. . the biggest humanitarian disaster on the planet today has its roots in poor geology. In the 1990s, geologists advised the government of Bangladesh that the country’s ground waters were safe. We now know that this was wrong, and as a result of following that advice, up to 77 million people have been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic from drinking water in recent decades. A Lancet study two years ago reported that over 1 in 5 of the deaths in the country’s capital were caused by arsenic poisoning. This the greatest case of mass poisoning the world has ever experienced….. This is the biggest decision they (the Cabinet) will ever make in their lives. In the run up to the decision, the Cabinet will be subject to relentless lobbying. Chair, I urge them to have only one consideration. When they go to sleep at night, their last thought should be a worry about complex geology. When they wake up in the morning, they should be worrying about complex geology.  Geology is the ground we stand on; it’s in the food we eat, and in the water we drink. The people of Bangladesh now know that to their appalling cost. The IAEA says avoid complex geology. I urge the Cabinet to take this advice, and pull out of the MRWS process now.”

Citizen Power Loosens the Screw

By 2012 others began to take notice of what RaFL and most Cumbrian councillors were voicing about the nuclear dump plans.  Some folk with misgivings about the dump wanted to join the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership in order to get expenses paid for time spent attending meetings and such like  - we vehemently argued against this instead encouraging people to form their own groups directly opposing the dump.  We supported those who stated they were “not against a nuclear dump or the nuclear industry but against the nuclear dump in our area” such as at Ennerdale.   Our own views are that this is not a NIMBY issue - there should be no deep dumping of (ever increasing) nuclear wastes anywhere while there are unresolved issues about containment.

Image: Radiation Free Lakeland taking the Save Our Lake District message to the Top of Scafell in March 2012 “the dump would be as deep as Scafell is high”. Banners made by Irene Sanderson.

Some of the groups formed following Radiation Free Lakeland’s campaigning were:

Save Our Lake District
http://mrwsold.org.uk/

No Lakes Nuke Dump
http://www.nolakesnukedump.com/

Solway Plain Against Nuclear Dump
http://www.spand.org.uk/

No Ennerdale Nuke Dump
http://noend.org.uk/Index.htm

Cumbria Nuclear Dump
http://www.cumbria-nucleardump.com/

Note: Sadly these groups no longer exist and the links are defunct.

In January 2013 after many dozens of peaceful protests, permission for Managing Radioactive Wastes Safely (now Nuclear Waste Services) to proceed to Stage 4 geological surveys was refused by Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet.  Council leader Eddie Martin’s memorable speech to Cabinet included:

“I have no doubt whatsoever that we currently have what we might call a consent deficit… a democratic deficit to go further. That worries me…” and “Like a two year old, radioactive waste can get into everything: water, soil, plants and animals.”  “I do not believe that nuclear waste can be disposed of and simply forgotten: it presents problems not yet identified I suggest for future generations ..“

The Screw Tightens ’To Dump Nuclear Waste First they must Dump Democracy’

In 2015, just two years after Cumbria County Council said No to the burial of high level nuclear wastes ( and  almost 20 years after they said No to deep burial of low and intermediate level wastes) the Government changed the law to make nuclear waste dumping a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.   This bright idea was it seems given to Government by the PR firm Copper Consulting .  Copper - a PR firm with offices in London, Bristol, Suffolk and Cumbria, told the Department of Energy and Climate Change that "allowing local authorities to determine the outcome of a process which is designed to deliver a national Government policy may not be the most appropriate route. ... local authorities are consultees rather than decision makers. A logical conclusion might therefore be to classify the GDF as an NSIP”.  This means that all checks and balances of hard won planning regimes are overruled with “Development Consent” being granted by the Secretary of State.  The latest process for finding a place to dump high level nuclear waste is set out in Implementing Geological Disposal – Working with Communities produced by the Conservative government in 2018.  Anyone, any “interested party” be it individual or business can now volunteer any place in the UK for a deep nuclear dump and this time the area, several times the size of Sellafield and as deep as Scafell is high, includes the sub-sea area off the Lake District coastline.  The enormous size of the dump is ‘necessary’ to space the hot wastes widely in order that the intense heat (up to 100 degrees c) can be dissipated into the pumped in bentonite and surrounding geology, thats the plan anyway.   In reality the rocks and bentonite would be heated by the wastes, raising the Irish Sea bed, already contaminated with decades of Sellafield discharges, like a radioactive pressure cooker.  Currently the waste is cooled at Sellafield by millions of gallons daily of fresh water from Wastwater and rivers in the area.

2021:  The Cumbrian West Coast is first to be put forward by an “interested party.”  Two “Working Groups” were formed led by Nuclear Waste Services in Copeland at the areas nearest to Sellafield along with Allerdale (now ruled out).  As the Nuclear Free Local Authorities pointed out “The new process doesn’t require an expression of interest from a local council. Even an individual can volunteer an entire borough – in fact anyone can volunteer anywhere.”  Two other areas of the UK were “put forward” one in Lincolnshire at Theddlethorpe where concerned councillors want to have a vote on the matter by 2027 and one in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The East Riding plan was soon scuppered by outraged local councillors and locals at a full council meeting where they voted to withdraw from Nuclear Waste Services Working Group.

It is Cumbria though which is seen by successive UK governments as the most politically expedient area for a deep nuclear dump with the waste “already here” at the overflowing Sellafield site with nuclear waste arriving daily from reactors across the UK,   The latest push for the dumping of heat generating nuclear wastes in Cumbria has seen an overwhelming corruption of democracy.  Cumbria is unique in the latest “Implementation of Geological Disposal” process with decisions taken effectively behind closed doors by less than a handful of councillors some with vested interests in the nuclear industry.  Not content with reducing the area which ‘can have a say’ now even the Borough of Copeland’s (now Cumberland’s)  councillors are airbrushed out of the decision making process altogether.  The progression from so called “Working Group” to “Community Partnership” was a decision taken behind the back of the full Copeland council.  There are countless news articles following this 14th October 2021 decision referring to “David Moore, a farmer and local Conservative councillor” saying: "Sellafield has brought great economic benefit. But the community recognises that there is waste there now and it has to be managed in a safe way.”  What the news articles do not mention is that the “go to voice of the community” David Moore was one of the three delegated councillors who took Cumbria into the “Community Partnership” to deliver a geological disposal facility.  No journalist has exposed the fact that this “farmer” is in receipt of monies, from his “stakeholder” roles within the nuclear industry, amounting to over £100,000.    Under the Localism Act it is “a criminal offence for an elected member to knowingly, or recklessly, provide false or misleading information, or to participate in the business of the authority where that business involves a disclosable pecuniary interest.”  The national rules about pecuniary interests are set out in Chapter 7 of the Localism Act 2011, which is available on the internet here: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/20/part/1/chapter/7/enacted.

Over 30 people, largely Copeland constituents wrote a letter of complaint dated 30th November 2022 to Cumbria Police about Councillor David Moore’s failure to declare an interest on any of his decisions taken on nuclear matters.  After nearly two years of delays and obfuscation Cumbria Police told us “this allegation was investigated by Cumbria Constabulary, and there was no evidence of any criminal offences, hence the outcome decision being that no further action was to be taken” Andrew Donnelly Detective Chief Inspector 4th June 2024.  Cumbria Police’s Disclosure Unit also refused to allow us sight of the review leading to this decision.  David Moore’s wife works for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and we have to wonder if there is a closing of ranks?   Certainly Cumbria Police’s decision to turn a blind eye to non-disclosure of nuclear interests  on the UKs biggest and most controversial infrastructure project sends a powerful message to all those in public life that vested and fiscal interests need not be declared when taking decisions on massive infrastructure projects.  Or maybe it is just nuclear that gets a free ride in the corruption of democracy?  Only the locally bought off public will we are told get a “test of public support,” not the full Cumbrian councils of Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness along with Morecambe and Lunesdale, or international areas surrounding the deep and very hot nuclear dump which would be equally impacted.  The terms of the already limited “test of public support” are to be decided by the Nuclear Waste Services led Community Partnership of which Cllr David Moore is a key member. 

 

2024: Can the Nuclear Screw be Loosened?

So what have Radiation Free Lakeland been doing to loosen the screw this time round. We have a dedicated campaign Lakes Against Nuclear Dump which we ask people to support along with encouraging separate local groups to form opposing the plan and encouraging regional, national and international opposition.   Locally millions of pounds of public money is now being sunk and money talks buying consent and unwillingness to speak out against the plan.  Each Community Partnership area “will initially have access to £1 million per year, rising to £2.5 million per year if the project progresses to technical investigations requiring deep boreholes”.   Strangely Friends of the Lake District have joined the “Community Partnership” and we have lobbied them to withdraw from a ‘partnership’ which has the stated aim of “Delivering a Geological Disposal Facility” for heat generating high level nuclear wastes under the Lake District Coast.  Previously FoLD opposed the NIREX plan back in the 1990s for low and intermediate level wastes but now they are partners in this crime.  Radiation Free Lakeland opposed damaging “geological exploration” by Nuclear Waste Services and the “Community Partnership”.  The BBC reported on 2nd August 2022: “A marine geophysical survey has begun off the Cumbrian coast despite 50,000 protesters signing a petition calling for a halt to the work. The seismic research, which uses sound waves, will determine if the seabed contains suitable geology for underground nuclear waste storage. However, protesters claim the tests cause stress to marine life. Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), which commissioned the work, said it was committed to environmental protection. Mid and South Copeland are among areas in the UK mooted for the location of what is known as a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).”  Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of all this is the 2019 appointment of the Cumbrian coal mine boss to advise the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management on the nuclear dump plans.  This is what our petition says : “Mark Kirkbride has recently provided costings to Government for the Delivery of a GDF (Nuclear Dump) including advice on enormous Tunnel Boring Machines from the same company (Herrenknecht) which would supply his coal mine.  This is a direct conflict of interest. Mark Kirkbride has clearly advised on the hugely damaging seismic blasting which took place in August in the Irish Sea to “investigate” the complex geology for a deep nuclear dump.  The enormous area of the Irish Sea in which seismic blasting took take place overlaps the proposed coal mine.  Kirkbride's 'investigative boreholes' for his coal mine may well have led to the reactivation of old mine water which has been pouring out into Whitehaven Harbour with no end in sight.“  Whether or not the proposed coal mine’s investigative boreholes are to blame it is clear that this area of West Cumbria is fragile and should not be subject to further deep mining either for coal or for a far bigger hotter and more toxic nuclear dump.

Image: acid mine water in Whitehaven Harbour

Ethicist Kate Rawles inadvertently hits the nail on the head in the NIREX sponsored paper of 2000: 'Ethical Issues in the Disposal of Radioactive Wastes': "The judgment about geology rests on the values put on human life and health. If human health were not valued, the geological criteria would not be the same.”  Cue Cumbria’s complex and faulted geology! Burying hot (literally 100 degrees c +) nuclear waste would be akin to burying a gargantuan cracked pressure cooker containing the most dangerous substances produced by man.  By continuing down the “Implementation of Geological Disposal” yellow brick road what does that say about the value placed on human and non-human health?

Our dedicated campaign against the nuclear dump can be seen here at Lakes Against Nuclear Dump - a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign