Extracts from the May-June 2003 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

13. Nuclear News

Waste

With the prospects for new nuclear plants looking decidedly grim after the White Paper on Energy, attention has turned to what to do with the radioactive wastes that have been produced, and will still be produced, by the existing plants. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Meacher, had already indicated that over the next century they would amount to some 500,000 tonnes, including material produced from plant decomissioning. In answer to a Parliamentary Question on Feb. 11th, he gave more details of what exists at present: ‘Data contained in the 2001 UK Radioactive Waste Inventory, published jointly by my Department and Nirex, indicates that the stocks of high and intermediate level radioactive waste, expressed in cubic metres when in conditioned form, will be:

He added ‘The volumes of low level waste (LLW) are less certain since LLW has a disposal route and the quantities in stock fluctuate markedly depending on the timing of transfers to Drigg. 15,000 cubic metres was the stock volume of LLW reported in the inventory for 1 April 2001’. Asked if BNFL had provided a timetable of dates on which radioactive waste arising from the reprocessing of foreign spent nuclear fuel will be returned to the country of origin, he noted that ‘British Nuclear Fuels plc has not provided such a timetable to DEFRA’.

A subsequent PQ on Feb. 23rd revealed what BNFL’s reprocessing activities, if continued, would produce, Meacher said: ‘There are contracts for the reprocessing of about 65% of the spent fuel from British Energy’s advanced gas-cooled reactors. If all of the spent fuel was reprocessed, conditioned waste volumes are estimated to be a maximum of about 28,000 [cubic metres] of low-level waste, 14,000 [cm] of intermediate-level waste and 470 [cm]of high level waste.’

Meanwhile, the local Copeland council, which covers Sellafield, who in the past seem to have been keen to support BNFL’s activities on the basis of underpinning local employment, has now started flexing is muscles on the waste issue. According to the Whitehaven News (13 Feb), it is insisting that all nuclear material contaminated by plutonium should be moved to Sellafield from BNFL’s Drigg radioactive waste storage site. The council has imposed planning conditions so that the medium-level waste, including the material contaminated by plutonium, be returned to Sellafield for treatment and storage by the target date of 2006. The Council wants Drigg to be used solely for storing the lowest level radioactive waste. Brian White, the council’s development and environment chief, said: "For historic reasons quantities of more hazardous intermediate level waste including the plutonium contaminated have remained in prolonged temporary storage on the Drigg site. Much of it emanated from the early days of the nuclear industry in the UK and was stored in old ordnance bunkers by the government. Councillors have always said that this was inappropriate. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has reinforced this view." He added: "The task for BNFL is onerous because there are many hundreds of crates and packages of differing condition and content involved. However, a massive engineering project is now well under way." But of course there is still no plan for where to put the rest.

British Energy limps on

At the last minute, the government extended its support to British Energy, the UK’s main nuclear plant operator, as the March 9 deadline for returning the full £650m government loan was reached, although BE had managed to get an agreement with its biggest creditors and had realised £300m from the sale of its Canadian nuclear assets, Bruce Power. But the company said it would still require state aid for limited working capital and collateral purposes after March 9, and the government seemed to have been happy to offer an as yet unspecified ‘reduced level’ of support so as to allow the financial restructuring to go ahead and keep the company ticking over. However, Patricia Hewitt, Trade and Industry Secretary, said that "the Government is well prepared for administration in case it fails". Meanwhile it has been revealed that the government has spent £9.8m on consultants and financial advice in order to keep BE from collapse.

New Problems at BNFL

BNFL’s new Mixed Oxide uranium/plutonium fuel plant has, it is alleged, come close to losing its initial MOX fuel contract because the agreed delivery date can no longer be met- a claim by CORE denied by BNFL (see Whitehaven News March 6th).

Evidently the first shipment- to Switzerland- will be delayed until next year, due to slow progress on full plant commissioning. Up the £20m in orders is at risk if consumer confidence is lost, a real problem for an already hard pressed BNFL. The Independent on Sunday (3/3) added that, ‘in a final irony, ministers are planning to build two new reactors at Sellafield at a cost of £1.8bn, to burn up unsold Mox’.

Given the tone of the White Paper, this last twist may be just speculation, but, after 2005, when the new EU carbon trading system comes into action, it could partly compensate for the poor economics of nuclear compared with fossil fuels. Burning MOX would get rid of the UK’s plutonium mountain- but it would create yet more waste to deal with, as well as continued risks of leaks.

The latter issue continues to haunt Sellafield, with growing fears being voiced that radioactive seaweed, contaminated by the cancer causing isotope Technetium-99, is finding its way into crops, fertilised by seaweed, or is being eaten directly in some parts of Ireland where it is bought for cooking. Irish politicians and also the Western Isles Council, have been calling for independent tests. The health scare comes after Technetium-99 was discovered in seaweed in Norway. It is a by-product of reprocessing nuclear fuel rods and Sellafield is the most likely source.

Meanwhile though, responses to the White Paper locally have understandably not been too positive. Cleator Moor county councillor and former Sellafield works secretary, Tim Knowles, told the Whitehaven News (28th Feb): ‘With thousands of quality jobs at Sellafield at stake we don’t want windmills. Not only are windmills unsightly but all their real employment benefits go to the manufacturers in Germany and Denmark. Opportunities at Sellafield must now be focussed on its potential to help make West Cumbria a genuine world class centre for nuclear decommissioning.’

Peter Kane, secretary of the Sellafield Shop Stewards Committee, put a bold face on it: ‘We are delighted that the nuclear option has been kept open in the face of hostility from some sources. Nuclear energy’s time will come and the White Paper does enough to ensure that a skilled nuclear workforce will be around when it does.’ And in the Commons, local MP Dr Jack Cunningham said: "I applaud the clear commitment to retain the option of using nuclear power in the future. Is it not clear that carbon trading, unlike the climate change levy, will enhance the economic position and thus the potential contribution from nuclear power in the future?"