FEARS over the effects of the Thorp plant at Sellafield may have on
the Solway coast have been expressed in a council report.
Mr William Davidson, director of environmental health, has also
severely criticised British Nuclear Fuels Ltd and the Government in his
report to Stewartry District Council.
Mr Davidson said BNFL had given inaccurate information about aspects
of the operation of the plant. He also has hit out at the Government's
policy on the reprocessing and operation of the Thermal Oxide
Reprocessing Plant.
He said the Department of the Environment has ignored the council's
concerns of high levels of radioactivity being washed up on the Solway
coast and that the Government has decided approve the plant with minor
amendments.
Mr Davidson also described a comment on the environmental aspects of
the operation of Thorp by BNFL as being ''breathtaking in its simplicity
and wholly inaccurate''.
BNFL says the plant will have no adverse environmental effect either
radiologically or non-radiologically within the UK or elsewhere.
Mr Davidson said that perhaps soon the public would be told that
radiation is good for them. He adds: ''It is no wonder that people who
wish the nuclear industry no ill despair of BNFL as a byword for
ineptitude in public relations as every industrial process has some
effect and indeed a few are listed by BNFL in the document.''
The council, which approached the Government earlier about the
proposed increase in the level of discharges from the plant from l993
onwards, especially caesium l37, has been asked to comment by the
beginning of next month on a series of reports and documents released by
the Department of the Environment.
Mr Davidson also said the Government statement on Thorp made much of
the economic, employment, and overseas trade aspects but unfortunately
less effort was made to comment on safety and waste management
considerations.
The report was given to councillors as Greenpeace failed in a legal
attempt at the Court of Appeal in London to stop uranium testing at
Thorp.
The court, in a 2-1 majority decision, rejected the plea for an order
stopping BNFL going ahead with testing before the legality of the move
can be challenged in judicial review proceedings later this month.
On Wednesday, Greenpeace was granted leave to seek High Court orders
blocking the Government's decision, announced last week, to let BNFL
test the plant's systems using uranium -- before a final ruling on
whether the plant should be allowed to operate at all.
But the Judge refused to ban the tests before the challenge is heard
on September 14.
Mr Justice Brooke said he had been ''very considerably influenced'' by
BNFL evidence that a stay could have cost the company up to #2m a week
and statements from HM Inspectorate of Pollution and the Ministry of
Agriculture that there would be only ''minimal'' radioactive emissions.
Mr Peter Melchett, Greenpeace executive director, said later: ''The
outcome of the case shows how very difficult it is for voluntary
organisations like Greenpeace to challenge processes which involve large
sums of money and Government departments and state-owned businesses with
huge resources.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article