Archived press release

Lords get it wrong on nuclear waste dump

24 March 1999

But Still No Comfort For BNFL

The House of Lord's Select Committee on Science and Technology's Report on UK Nuclear Waste Management Policy, published today, has accepted nuclear industry propaganda on the need for nuclear waste dumps. The industry takes the view that the key problem with developing a nuclear dump site is to persuade the public to accept it.

But Friends of the Earth has described the report as "taking a wrong turn from page1". The Committee expects the British public to go along with a program to convince them to accept nuclear waste dumps. But the 1996 Nirex Inquiry, which ended in a complete victory for the objectors including FOE, established that we do not have the science to keep nuclear waste isolated from human communities for the hundreds of thousands of years needed for it to become safe.

However, the report offers little comfort to British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL). It points out that since nuclear reprocessing multiplies the volume of nuclear waste, particularly if plutonium is treated as waste as the Lords recommend, BNFL's plans for Britain to become a major importer of spent nuclear fuel would require a much larger nuclear dump than previously proposed. The Government will now have to include its promised review of reprocessing as part of its review of nuclear waste management.

Commenting, Dr Patrick Green, Senior Nuclear Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said
"This report insults the intelligence of the public. It expects us to accept the principle of a huge nuclear dump in Britain, even though we do not have the science to keep this nuclear waste hidden away for hundreds of thousands of years until it is safe. This was the lesson of the NIREX Inquiry. If the industry has forgotten it, we will have to teach it to them again.

Meanwhile, the report's finding that plutonium should be treated as waste is a bitter pill for British Nuclear Fuels plc. The Government must now include its promised review of nuclear reprocessing as part of its review of nuclear waste policy."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] A Special Friends of the Earth briefing on the House of Lords report Nuclear Waste Management: Where Next?is available by ringing 020 7566 1671 or 020 7566 1673.
[2] Friends of the Earth will be releasing a major report on March 30th, at a 10.30 press conference in the House of Common's Jubilee room. The report will show how BNFL can end the commercial dead end of reprocessing by renegotiating German reprocessing contracts into interim storage contracts.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust