No burying this nuclear dilemma

[Oscar]

No burying this nuclear dilemma

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2 ... on-cutting

The Guardian, Letters -- Monday, 26 October 2009.

It is true that the government expects high-level radioactive waste to be buried in a deep repository, but this solution is nowhere near in sight and applies only to legacy wastes (Report, 20 October).

Meanwhile, the government, in effect, is about to announce up to 11 sites where highly radioactive spent fuel and other wastes will be stored indefinitely in vulnerable coastal locations. For these wastes the "effective arrangements" for disposal required by government policy simply do not exist.

Given that the new power stations creating these wastes have an expected life of 60 years, and that the new high-burn-up fuels will require cooling for at least 100 years, wastes will remain stored at each site until near the end of the next century and possibly beyond.

By that time it is highly likely that sites such as Bradwell and Dungeness will be inundated as a result of more frequent and severe storm surges, coastal processes and sea-level rise.

The operators of these stations will be required to "confirm that they can protect the site against flood risk throughout the lifetime of the site".

Beyond 100 years the uncertainties increase. The assumption that many of the proposed new highly active waste stores can be protected into the indefinite future is a fantasy parading as a policy.
Imposing highly dangerous waste dumps on communities that are given no choice in the matter and on future generations who have no voice is both undemocratic and unethical.

Emeritus professor Andrew Blowers
Co-chair, Nuclear Consultation Group
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Sustainable Development Commission

Duncan Graham-Rowe misrepresents the Sustainable Development Commission's 2006 report, The Role of Nuclear Power in a Low Carbon Economy .

(Watchdog gives nuclear industry clean bill of health, 21 October).

While we acknowledged that nuclear power could contribute to stabilising CO2 emissions, the report pointed out clearly that it was unlikely to make as significant an impact as is sometimes claimed.

Our research established that even if the UK's existing nuclear capacity were doubled, it would only result in an 8% cut in CO2 emissions, relative to 1990 levels.

Given the timescales for such an expansion, including the replacement of capacity from plants reaching the end of their lives, it also means that these savings would not be fully realised until the 2030s, with little contribution to emissions reductions before 2020.

As a result, the Sustainable Development Commission found that the problems of nuclear power far outweighed the potential benefits. [emphasis added]

Will Day
Sustainable Development Commission
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Sustainable Development Commission
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/
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Is Nuclear the Answer? (2008)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/news.ph ... the-answer
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Nuclear Paper 8: Uranium Resource Availability (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper8-UraniumResourceAvailability.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 7: Public Perception and Community Issues (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper7-PublicPerceptionsandCommunity.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 6: Safety and security (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper6-SafetyandSecurity.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 5: Waste and decommissioning (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper5-wasteanddecommissioning.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 4 - The Economics of Nuclear Power (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper4-Economics.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 3: Landscape, environment and community impacts of nuclear power (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper3-landscapeEnvironmentCommunity.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 2 - Reducing CO2 emissions - nuclear and the alternatives (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper2-reducingCO2emissions.pdf
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Nuclear Paper 1 - An introduction to nuclear power – science, technology and UK policy context (2006)
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/
Nuclear-paper1-Science-technology-policy.pdf