NWAA | Nuclear Waste Advisory Associates

Prof Smythe’s response to Dr Dearlove

graham — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:02:04 +0000

Professor David Smythe has written a response to a letter submitted to the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Partnership by the Dr J Dearlove on 13th May 2011. His letter is a commentary on Prof. Smythe’s critique: “Why a deep nuclear waste repository should not be sited in Cumbria: A geological review“, dated 12th April 2011.

His response is available here: Prof_David_Smythe_response_to_NDA’s_Dr_Dearlove[1]

Nirex Inquiry Inspector’s Report

graham — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:46:57 +0000

Over 66 days between 5 September 1995 and 1 February 1996 a public inquiry was held at The Civic Hall, Cleator Moor, Cumbria into an appeal by United Kingdom Nirex Limited against the refusal by Cumbria County Council to grant planning permission for a rock characterisation facility near Sellafield with a view to the construction of a geological nuclear waste disposal facility.

The Inquiry Inspector’s report is available here. (It is a 16MB file)

The Assessor’s Report is available here.

Why was Sellafield rejected as a disposal site for radioactive waste?

graham — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 13:33:44 +0000

March 17th 1997 may be remembered by most people in Britain for the announcement of the general election. But for the nuclear industry, this was the day that their waste disposal plans fell apart. A planning Inspector and his team had undertaken a local planning inquiry, examined the evidence put forward by Nirex for continued development leading towards an underground radioactive waste repository site near Sellafield, and had decisively rejected the Nirex proposals. Amongst the reasons specific to the Inspector’s rejection was Nirex’s poor understanding of the geology and hydrogeology of its proposed site. How did this come about, and how did Nirex come unstuck so badly, after spending some £400M derived from public companies?

By Stuart Haszeldine and David Smythe, University of Glasgow. Geoscientist, vol. 7 no. 7, pp 18-20 (1997)

Other papers by Professor David Smythe are available here.

Environment Agency Consultation on waste from new nuclear reactors

graham — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:55:43 +0000

It is the Environment Agency’s job to regulate discharges and waste disposals from nuclear power stations in England and Wales. The Agency has been working with the Office for Nuclear Regulation on a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) to assess the new reactor designs before individual site applications are made. The Agency invited views on its views formed so far in June 2010.

A consultation document and a series of other documents are available for the two reactor types – the UK EPR and the AP1000. The documents are available here.

The consultation closed on 18th October 2010. A summary of responses on the two reactor types is available here.

The NWAA response to this consultation is available here.

MRWS – desk-based studies of potential sites consultation

graham — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:42:01 +0000

Managing Radioactive Waste Safely: Desk-based identification and assessment of potential candidate sites for geological disposal – a public consultation.

A consultation seeking views on how potential sites for geological disposal will be identified and assessed. It sets out how desk based studies would be used to identify possible sites from areas put forward following a local authority decision to participate in the geological disposal facility siting process.
DECC 28th June 2011

First Annual Report on the MRWS Programme

graham — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:34:04 +0000

The Government’s response in November 2010 to the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee’s report “Radioactive Waste Management: a Further Update”, committed Government to the production of an annual report to Parliament that would be published and copies provided to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), as well as to key stakeholders. This is the first of those reports. At the same time, the Minister for Energy, Charles Hendry, announced that he would like to go forward with the ambition of seeing the first waste put into a geological disposal facility by the end of 2029 and has tasked NDA to look at opportunities for accelerating progress.

First Annual Report on MRWS Programme 28th June 2011

Government publishes MRWS Annual Report 28/06/11

graham — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:23:30 +0000

The Government today published the first annual report of its Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Programme. The programme is focused on implementing the long-term geological disposal of our higher activity radioactive waste. Alongside this, the Government published a consultation on how potential sites for geological disposal will be identified and assessed. Charles Hendry, Minister of State for Energy, told a meeting of the Geological Disposal Implementation Board in London today: “Today’s annual report and proposals for identifying and assessing possible sites show that we are making progress in this vital area. I want us to continue to be ambitious in our timescales for delivery. I would like us to set a goal of putting the first waste into a geological disposal facility by the end of 2029. I have tasked the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to look at opportunities for accelerating progress to meet this aim.”

DECC Press Release 28th June 2011

First Annual Report on MRWS Programme 28th June 2011

Managing Radioactive Waste Safely: Desk-based identification and assessment of potential candidate sites for geological disposal – a public consultation.

DECC 28th June 2011

Do we want Cumbria to be the UK’s nuclear dump? 22/06/11

graham — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:08:50 +0000

The issue about whether Cumbria should host the UK’s nuclear dump was debated enthusiastically at a public meeting in Whitehaven at the end of June 2011. It was organised by West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely Partnership, an advisory body specifically created to investigate whether the plan should be supported in Cumbria. Cherry Wade, from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), told the meeting: “We would not want to proceed unless we were confident that a site was safe. For those parts of west Cumbria which are still potentially in consideration for this process the amount of geological information available is highly variable. For most of the region insufficient information exists on which to take a decision on the suitability to host a geological disposal facility. Even for those areas where more information is available it would be necessary to evaluate it further in the light of the advanced knowledge which has taken place since the early stages and make sure the information and the understanding is up to date.”

Carlisle News and Star 22nd June 2011

Retrievability & Reversibility 17/06/11

graham — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:56:36 +0000

When the Scottish Government published its Higher Activity Radioactive Waste Policy is January 2011, it also published a series of additional documents. One of these documents – on Retrievability and Reversibility – was outstanding. This was finally published in June 2011.

Scottish Government 17th June 2011

West Cumbrian Geology Unsuitable 16/06/11

graham — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:43:12 +0000

The West Cumbrian Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership has organised a geology seminar to take place in Whitehaven on June 20 concerning proposals to dispose of higher activity radioactive wastes in West Cumbria. The announcement states that I declined an invitation to take part. This is misleading. In fact it was I who proposed to the MRWS over two months ago that I give a public talk about my findings on the unsuitability of Cumbria for hosting a nuclear waste dump. The MRWS responded by offering me a 15-minute slot within a larger “seminar” of two hours duration. Since the complexities of the geology, district by district, cannot possibly be covered in a quarter of an hour, I then withdrew my offer. It is clear to me that the Partnership does not wish a genuine debate; the forthcoming seminar is merely a PR exercise. Two months ago I published a detailed technical article, running to 35 pages, to back up my earlier general statement, based on the complexity of the geology and proximity of the mountains, that nowhere in West Cumbria is suitable for high or intermediate level radioactive waste disposal (see www.davidsmythe.org). No official government body has responded in any substance to my geological criticisms. It is evident that they cannot, and that my conclusion stands. The lessons of the Nirex Inquiry of 1995-96, in which I was heavily involved, must not be forgotten. I am more than happy to debate in proper scientific detail my professional knowledge of West Cumbria, in a serious manner – say 45 minutes each, with one speaker each for and against an appropriate motion, followed by debate and questions from the floor. The venue should preferably be in West Cumbria, but I am prepared to appear anywhere in the UK. The debate should be video-recorded and then put on the public MRWS website, together with full transcripts of the presentations.
I await the challenge with eagerness.
David SMYTHE
(Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, University of Glasgow)
Ventenac en Minervois, France

Whitehaven News 16th June 2011