Fw: LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR
Thursday, 26 May, 2011 21:29
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"Liz Vaughan"
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----- Original Message -----
From: jean mcsorley
To: mcsorley
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 2:37 PM
Subject: LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR
LAKE DISTRICT NUCLEAR DUMP - 'TRUMP CARD' IN BID FOR SELLAFIELD REACTOR
16 May 2011
Evidence leaked to Greenpeace and released under the Freedom of Information Act shows local nuclear consultation on nuclear waste disposal is a sham and pro-nuclear lobbyists know Sellafield is not a suitable location for a new reactor.
In January 2012, the three councils - Cumbria County Council and Copeland and Allerdale Borough Councils will decide whether to proceed to the preliminary siting process for a radioactive waste dump in West Cumbria to take all the UK 's legacy and new build wastes and spent fuel.[1]
The documents reveal that the three Councils which have made an 'expression of interest' in West Cumbria hosting a national nuclear dump secretly view hosting the dump as a 'trump card' in getting new reactors at Sellafield.[2]
They also show that the nuclear champions are aware that electricity from new reactors at Sellafield will not be used in Cumbria requiring large pylons around the Lake District National Park to transmit the electricity to other parts of the country. That information was withheld from the public, as well as details about problems with the Sellafield site geology and that existing radioactive contamination in the sea off Sellafield could pose problems in cooling a new reactor.
The people of West Cumbria have a right to expect the highest standards of openness and transparency from those seeking to dispose of dangerous radioactive materials into their region. Instead, Greenpeace had to force local councils to release information in the public interest through Freedom of Information requests and threats of complaint over non-compliance with information legislation.
Greenpeace said today:
'The Councils, and others who initiated these meetings, seem to view West Cumbria and the Lake District as their private fiefdom to be offered up for nuclear waste dumping. Their blind pursuit of nuclear jobs will cost jobs and income in the tourism, food and drink and agricultural sectors dearly.'
'These minutes expose the cynical machinations behind the Managing Radioactive Waste Safely stakeholder engagement programme. Claims about openly discussing nuclear waste disposal with the people of Cumbria are nothing more than a sham based on a hidden agenda. The discussions on disposal should now be halted. The Councils should not be allowed to take any further steps on this matter until there is full disclosure and examination of all the documents concerning new build and wastes from all parties involved.'
The documents also reveal the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was heavily involved in the closed door meetings, yet it is not meant to actively promote nuclear power. The NDA will be the developer and operator of a national nuclear dump, but it role in these behind scenes meetings raises questions about conflict of interest.
Notes for editors:
What the documents say:
Minutes and presentations at meetings from January 2008 to February 2010 reveal[3]:
l The pro-nuclear lobby knows that Cumbria can't use all the electricity from new Sellafield reactors: ' Cumbria is in the wrong place' in terms of electricity demand (one 'solution' mentioned in the minutes is to get a major energy user to move to Cumbria ). (15/1/08 - page 2)
l Information was withheld from the public regarding the scale of the impact of massive 50 metre pylons around the Lake District National Park - to connect new reactors to the national grid. (19/3/09 - page 56)
l the geology of land around Sellafield is problematic and would add significantly to reactor construction costs (15/1/08 page 2 minutes and slide 19, page 7, of presentation).
l Plutonium contamination in the sea - from Sellafield's reprocessing discharges - could cause problems for cooling new reactors: there is 1/3rd tonne of plutonium in a mudbank offshore where the reactor cooling water would be extracted (13/8/09, page 11)
l the link between new build at Sellafield and using the UK 's plutonium stockpile as a fuel in reactors on site 'is an artificial construct' (11/6/08 page 28)
l the NDA would be asked to make land available at Sellafield at a 'favourable commercial rate' (slide 4, page 11 presentation)
l the name of any new build site would have to be changed to distance it from Sellafield and to avoid 'reputational damage' (3/9/08 p 41 and slide 8 page 13 presentation)
What the documents are:
118 pages of minutes of meetings of pro-nuclear interested parties from January 2008-February 2010 released under Freedom of Information by Copeland - April 2011.
The minutes can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/document/building-case-nuclear-new-build-sellafield
The meetings involved - at different times - councillors and officials from the NDA, Cumbria, Copeland and Allerdale Councils, Cumbria Vision, West Lakes Renaissance, Sellafield unions, the North West Development Agency, Invest in Cumbria. Sellafield Ltd, Mercury Stone (Marketing company) AMEC (nuclear service company, Furness Enterprise, as well as a representative of Jamie Reed, Copeland MP and John Hetherington an independent consultant.
Leaked: two presentations (shown 15/1/08) for West Lakes Renaissance (an urban regeneration company) written by the nuclear services company AMEC.
l Meeting the Energy Challenge Assessing the Business Case for Nuclear New Build at Sellafield Stage 3 - First set of slides - 26 slides over 9 pages. Dated 10/01/2008,
l Meeting the Energy Challenge: Influencing Strategy to Attract New Build to Sellafield Stage 4 - second set of slides - 10 slides over 4 pages. Date 10/01/2008
l All slides with West Lakes Renaissance and AMEC header
The slides can be found here: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/document/amec-stages-3-and-4-energy-coast-deal
Documents released by West Lakes Renaissance - 3 papers
1. Influencing Strategy and Implementation Plan (undated)
2. Pre-approval for expenditure and brief - WLR 05/7/2007
3. Copy of summary for Energy Coast Master Plan
How we got the documents
After a series of FOI requests to the NDA on David Hayes (then Special Projects Manager) we were told (1 February 2008) that they had:
'not found any paper work associated with these meetings, I understand that one of them was informal, there was no paperwork and it was not minuted. The other meeting did have papers, but they are not held by the NDA i.e. David Hayes didn’t keep anything.' Yet in early 2008 we had been mailed copies of slides from a presentation at a meeting of 15th January 2008 at which, we were informed, David Hayes of the NDA was present. The minutes confirm this.
In February 2008 we emailed WLR to ask for information regarding its work on new build at Sellafield (see above for reply received). In its email on releasing information, WLR said that as a limited company it was not under any obligation for respond to FoI requests. Despite further letters, challenging this, it has refused to answer any more queries.
In December 2010 we emailed both Cumbria County Council and Copeland Borough Council requesting copies of: 'all emails, memos, minutes of meetings or powerpoint presentations involving Copeland officials or councilors and representatives of Britain's Energy Coast West Cumbria, along with records of any relevant discussions (formal or informal)on this matter between the two organisations.
It took four months and the threat of a complaint over non-compliance with Freedom of Information legislation (from 7th December 2010 until 5th April 2011) before Copeland responded to the FOI request which resulted in the minutes been sent.
Despite an exact same email to Cumbria CC (sent 7/12/2010) and again on 2/2/2011 (and an email of complaint (26/3/2011 that it is potentially in breach of FOI legislation) Cumbria has yet to respond to the request.
Contact
Niall Sookoo, Greenpeace media office, 07 711 156 881
Jean McSorley, Consultant, Nuclear Campaign, 07 801 212 959
