'Nuclear Dump = Climate Solution' - this is the latest shocking disinformation from Nuclear Waste Services.
The Advertorial in the New Statesman is shocking in its bias.
A complaint has been sent to the Advertising Standards Authority on behalf of Radiation Free Lakeland along with a letter of complaint (below) to the New Statesman.
Please do send in your own letters of complaint - the nuclear industry is getting away with it big time. The biggest development ever in the UK - a gargantuan 175 year nuclear mine - would be “clean” and a “climate solution” and shower the locals with goodies according to this advertorial by Nuclear Waste Services (a limited liability govnt company).
Dear New Statesman,
I was shocked to read the Advertorial in the New Statesman by Nuclear Waste Services which is blatant in its disinformation and bias towards “delivery of a geological disposal facility” aka a deep, massive and very hot nuclear dump under the Irish Sea bed. No adverse impacts were mentioned in this “feel good” advertorial aimed at pushing a 175 year nuclear waste mine on a rural community with the government’s new “process” having excluded the wider community and Irish Sea countries surrounding the “GDF” (Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man) from having any say.
The article states that the nuclear industry is “clean” and that a “geological disposal facility” would “tackle the climate crisis.”
“CLEAN”
The article repeatedly talks of nuclear as “clean” when it is demonstrably toxic, dirty and risky at every stage, from uranium mining, to reactor emissions and accidents, to the massive unsolved issue of high-level waste disposal.
In Cumbria radioactive particles found by Sellafield on Cumbrian beaches are about 60 times the Dalgety Bay maximum (where the beaches were closed and radioactive particles of radium from WW2 aircraft dials removed as far as possible https://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/23492731.dalgety-bay-15m-clean-up-foreshore-finish-summer/).
I asked Dr Marco Kaltofen, PhD, PE (Civil, MA), C. NSE about this and his response was "This level of radioactivity is higher than American politics is bonkers. 1.23 MBq is 1,230,000 radioactive decays per second; 106,272,000,000 radioactive decays per day. And it's only the second most cesium-137 active object found?” https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67ab1075acab8c9492a46250/Particles_in_the_Environment_Update_for_Q4_2024_ISSUED_v2.pdf
“NUCLEAR WILL TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS”. …. NO IT WILL MAKE IT FAR WORSE.
This assertion is bonkers. Nuclear fission is the most energy inefficient form of producing electricity known to humanity with the industry using a vanishingly small proportion of the heat produced to turn turbines (to produce only around 10% of UK electricity). Most of the heat is left in the atomic wastes which will continue to send out a vicious heat that cannot be turned off . The “solution” is to bury and abandon the waste in the geology under the Irish Sea-bed.
Nuclear Waste Services (The Developer) has replied to us via email saying that the seabed will have “no significant temperature rise” once atomic wastes are placed in a mass void the size of Bermuda in the geology. What Nuclear Waste Services mean by “significant” is not stated. Any temperature rise AT ALL on the seabed would be hugely damaging.
Regarding uplift of the sea-bed from radioactive gases and thermal heating the reply is: “GDF design and other controls on management of the thermal output of waste will prevent disruptive uplift of the seabed from the heat output of waste.” Any uplift or subsidence of the seabed would result in mass resuspension of radioactive wastes already on the seabed as a result of 70 years of Sellafield discharges. As described above this already occurs due to tidal movements and storms. The contaminated silt which should be disturbed as little as possible is called the Sellafield/Cumbrian Mud Patch.
These inevitable impacts due to the thermal heating of abandoned high level atomic wastes (currently cooled by millions of gallons of finite freshwater at Sellafield) are not mentioned by Nuclear Waste Services in their advertorial or elsewhere.
OTHER NON-RADIOACTIVE IMPACTS of 175 Year Mining Site (GDF)
Blight of Lake District Coastal Landscape
Loss of Local Heritage, Stone Circles, Tarns, Country Lanes
Destruction of Ecosystems, Wildlife Hydrology, Groundwater
Massive Rock Spoil from Deep Geology (containing radon etc)
Traffic and Noise Pollution on Rural Roads
Dust/Spills from Bentonite Silos
Increased Stress on Local Water Supply
Armed Civil Nuclear Constabulary with Jurisdiction up to 5km from Nuclear Mine Site.
Induced Earthquakes from Deep Mining
Loss of Farmland/Greenbelt
Footprint of Nuclear Sprawl would be increased to 250+ acres of mine site in addition to Sellafield’s 655 acres and Drigg’s LLWR of 270 acres making a total of 1175 acres of nuclear sprawl on the Lake District Coast.
Subsidence- the CEO of the rejected coal mine, Mark Kirkbride is advising Nuclear Waste Services on “investigation techniques and mining” of the GDF. His coal mine was rejected by government as having “underestimated subsidence.”
None of this is “clean” or is a “solution to tackling the climate crisis” by producing more (and even hotter) nuclear wastes.
Legally developers of new nuclear must prove that they have a “final solution’ for the heat generating wastes they produce. "There should be no commitment to a large programme of nuclear fission power until it has been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that a method exists to ensure the safe containment of long-lived, highly radioactive waste for the indefinite future” .(Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, 1976, p. 131),
Reasonable doubts about very long term containment exist by the leaky bucket load.
The following are just a small sample of ongoing high level and critically important research projects….
Radioactive Gas An overview of gas research in support of the UK geological disposal programme. Gases will be generated in waste packages during their transport to a geological disposal facility (GDF), this generation will continue during GDF operations and after GDF closure. The range of gases produced will include flammable, radioactive and chemotoxic species. These must be managed to ensure safety during transport and operations, and the post-closure consequences need to be understood. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/mineralogical-magazine/article/an-overview-of-gas-research-in-support-of-the-uk-geological-disposal-programme/8F268D9BF5D5AE19BFA466B70F2D5B66
Understanding gas transport properties in mudstone. This current project is underway and will produce results that will facilitate the modelling of gas transport surrounding a geological disposal facility.. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/earth-ocean-and-ecological-sciences/collaborate/disposal-of-nuclear-waste/
Onkalo Research Site Finland, the underground rock characterization facility in Olkiluoto, as part of the project “rock matrix Retention PROperties” (REPRO). The research site is located at a depth of 420 meters close to the repository site and the aim is to study the diffusion and sorption properties of radionuclides in the rock matrix in real in situ conditions..https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/nuclear-waste-disposal/research
Long Term Research Programme for geological disposal of radioactive waste Work Programme 2020- 25 COVRA in collaboration with Technopolis Group https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347836713_long-term_research_programme_for_geological_disposal_of_radioactive_waste
Bentonite Erosion in a High Temperature Environment Understanding processes that could affect bentonite clay, and their potential significance, warrant further research studies – could such processes affect the bentonite’s long-term stability?https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bentonite-in-a-high-temperature-environment-bentonite-erosion
Thermal Expansion of Engineering Materials and Surrounding Rocks. The heat released from the disposal of High-Heat-Generating Waste (HHGW) in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) will result in an increase in temperature, and therefore thermal expansion of both the engineering materials and surrounding rocks. The changes to the stress state arising from the thermal expansion of these materials, restrained by the surrounding rock mass, could affect several of the Thermal, Hydraulic, and Mechanical (THM) processes that operate after closure of a GDF. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013795223003058
International Research to Test Bentonite. Important roles of underground research laboratories for the geological disposal of radioactive wastes: an international perspective. For example, an experiment to test the in situ behaviour of bentonite will aim to expand the scientific knowledge on bentonite and sealing systems. https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/full/10.1144/SP536-2022-97
Investigating the Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Evolution of UK GDF. Investigating the thermo-hydro-mechanical evolution of a UK geological disposal facility due to disposal of high-heat-generating wastes https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0013795223003058
Tectonics, Seismicity, Volcanism. Tectonic and climatic considerations for deep geological disposal of radioactive waste: A UK perspective..Key processes considered in this paper include those which result from plate tectonics, such as seismicity and volcanism, as well as climate-related processes, such as erosion, uplift and the effects of glaciation.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716314632
Decay heat released from radioactive waste residing in a future geological disposal facility (GDF) poses many challenges, including long-term geological integrity and high temperature gradients in the rock. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245190492400708X
Heat Generating Radioactive Waste in Clay Formations THM-modelling benchmark initiative on the effects of temperature on the disposal of heat-generating radioactive waste in clayformations https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11440-024-02502w
Extremophilic Microbial Metabolism and Radioactive Waste Disposal..Of particular interest are sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), which produce the corrosive species hydrogen sulphide that may compromise metal waste container integrity https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10577106/
Mining Induced Seismicity Impact of mining-induced seismicity on land subsidence occurrence. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425723004868#:~:text=Mining%2Dinduced%20seismicity%20can%20damage,prediction%20capabilities%2C%20and%20associated%20consequences
The Danger of Coal Mining-Induced Earthquakes (the same tunnel boring machines would be used for gdf) https://www.azomining.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=1617
Reactivation and Mineralisation Associated with the Lake District Boundary Fault https://www.dur.ac.uk/media/durham-university/departments-/earth-sciences/mscr2024/LDFz_KM_MScR_24.pdf