I hope that at least some of the demonstrators who descended on Carlisle last Wednesday managed to stay in the area long enough to enjoy a beautiful spring day today in the Lakes. It really has been a day to see the natural beauty of the landscape at its sparkling best. Demonstrators will feel proud of having averted what they saw as a future threat to the area from the continuing search for a site in Cumbria for a nuclear waste repository. No doubt many pints of Cumbrian real ale were downed in celebration at the County Councils’ decision not to take further part in the search for a site.
However, the second part of the Council’s resolution has not received the attention it deserves, either from protesters, or the general media. The resolution had been amended during the debate to call on the Government to investment in improving the existing surface storage facilities at Sellafield, in line with the recent National Audit Office report. To many of my Council colleagues who have been round Sellafield, the NAO report provided official confirmation of what their own eyes had seen – Sellafield today is not fit for purpose:
Successive site operators developed Sellafield without sufficient thought to decommissioning or retrieving and disposing of radioactive waste. Some of the older facilities at Sellafield containing highly hazardous radioactive waste have deteriorated so much that their contents pose significant risks to people and the environment.
(NAO Report 1.10).
The Council saw petitions with thousands of signatures, worried about the threat that an MRWS might pose 20 – 30 – 40 – 50 years in the future. That’s all very well, but this official Government report, dated last November, states there is a real threat, today, and expresses serious reservations about the current management of the clean up on the site. I haven’t seen anything like the same public outcry over this issue. Where are the protesters demanding more investment in Sellafield today? because that’s what this is about.
I know many in the green movement would look horrified at the suggestion they lobby George Osborne to put more money into Sellafield. But, if you really care about the safety of the people of Cumbria, about preserving the wonderful environment of the Lake District, and about supporting the economy of one of the poorer parts of the UK – then that’s where you should be campaigning.
Cumbrian anti nuclear campaigners (volunteers in the dictionary definition of the word! ) continue to campaign for all money and expertise to be put into looking after existing wastes..all our futures depend on the nasty stuff being contained for eternity instead of dispersed..http://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2013/02/04/cumbrias-jr-contracts-were-made-to-be-broken/
[...] I was not convinced that any of the six reasons given in the call-in request was either a necessary or a sufficient reason for a call-in. The lead call-in member was surprisingly unconvincing when faced with fairly mild questioning from the Board members. So, it was soon obvious that all the other Board members shared my opinion, and that was that. MRWS is finished, and we can turn our attention to the immediate problem of cleaning up Sellafield. [...]
Alot of the campaigners are well aware of the scandalous dangerous conditions at Sellafield and we are all know that money needs to be forthcoming to deal with safer storage of the waste. Why is more nuke waste continually transported to Sellafield when storage needs sorting there? I bet if Sellafield was down south something would have been done by now but being up north out the way in W Cumbria i reckon its ‘out of site/sight out of mind’ … Let them lot up north have a dumping ground ground on there doorstep and deal with the invisible radiation and consequence of health
hazards. In various emails i have sent to ministers i have always stated that money needs throwing at the appalling waste storage situation at Sellafield but nothing has been forthcoming in any replies on this matter. Yes, a BIG campaign does need to be started on this long overdue nightmare esp. Now the gdf palava is done and dusted.
Please sign the petition and encourage all your contacts to do so: http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-cumbria-safe
Thanks – John
Goodho for starting the petition. I will be sharing it continually through FB and by email and hope to amass lots of sigs throughout this yrs festival season and to raise awareness about this ‘hidden’ dangerous menace.
I think you will find a healthy number of signatures now on your petition and well done for starting it.Thank goodness the CCC decision was upheld yesterday but I don’t think I or any of the campaigners think that we can sit back and put the banners away.
The Sellafield waste problem still needs to be resolved, not just for Cumbria but for the UK even Europe who knows how far the contamination could spread.
We are not a “descending” mob but a committed, sincere group of like minded individuals.