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END NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE FOE Launches Campaign To End Foreign Imports
29 July 1998
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Friends of the Earth today launches, in London and Cumbria, a campaign to end the import of foreign nuclear rubbish to Britain.
At Sellafield the campaign begins with local FOE campaigner Jill Perry, will unveil a giant,florescent radioactive lobster, which will tour Britain to demonstrate the damage nuclear reprocessing is doing to the Irish Sea. Lobsters in the Irish Sea have been found with levels of radiation 42 times EC intervention limits.
In London the campaign begins with the publication of " Nuclear Meltdown: A Nuclear Import/Export Nightmare" (1), a report for FOE by Dr David Lowry. The report shows that:
.nuclear utilities in Japan, Germany, Switzerland are producing large quantities of nuclear waste with nowhere to put it. Their solution is to re-label the waste as "spent nuclear fuel" and pay British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) to reprocess it (separate it into plutonium, uranium, and low, intermediate and high level nuclear waste).
.BNFL planned to put most of this waste into the now abandoned NIREX nuclear waste dump. Nuclear waste is therefore building up on the surface at Sellafield.Existing contracts with foreign nuclear generators will increase the amount of intermediate nuclear waste stored at Sellafield by approximately 30% by 2010. [2]
.The Government is not taking responsibility for ensuring the return of this nuclear waste to its countries of origin. The Government says the waste is a commercial issue for BNFL. BNFL will not commit themselves to a timetable for the return of nuclear waste to its country of origin.
.The failure of Britain to return nuclear waste to Italy has set a disturbing precedent.If neither the Government nor BNFL will take responsibility for its return, there is a danger that the waste will stay in Britain forever.
FOE is calling on the Government to:
.stop the import of foreign radioactive used nuclear fuel;
.publish a timetable for the return of all foreign nuclear waste to its country of origin.
FOE nuclear campaigner, Dr Dominick Jenkins, said today:
"Last week Environment Secretary Prescott celebrated the OSPAR agreement to reduce radioactive discharges at Sellafield to the sea by 2000. Now it's time to look at what's happening on land. Foreign nuclear waste is rapidly building up at Sellafield following the decision to abandon the NIREX nuclear waste dump. "Mr Prescott says Britain is no longer the "Dirty Man of Europe." Yet the Government will not take responsibility for ensuring this waste is returned to its country of origin. There is a clear danger that it will be stuck here forever. Everyone who cares about our environment should stand together to stop British Nuclear Fuels and foreign nuclear power utilities turning Britain into Japan, Germany, and Switzerland's nuclear rubbish dump."
NOTE TO EDITORS:
[1] Atomic Meltdown: A Nuclear Import/Export Nightmare is available from Friends of the Earth by calling 020 7490 1555.
[2]In 1994 (the year that the THORP reprocessing plant began operating) there were 40,000 tonnes of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) in store at Sellafield. Current Government estimates are that the level of ILW in the UK (about 80% at Sellafield) will rise to 136,000 cubic metres in 2010 [3]. Reprocessing of foreign nuclear spent fuel through THORP will result in an increase in the amount of intermediate level nuclear waste in store at Sellafield between 1994 and 2010 of approximately % 30. By 1995,foreign reprocessing contracts took up 54% of THORP's operating capacity, as follows: Japan 28%,Germany 17%, Switzerland 4%, Spain 2%, Italy 1%, Netherlands 1%, Sweden 1%.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
