Your article in “First look at Nuclear Waste Facility Benefits” reads like a press release from Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) itself. It is hardly surprising that NWS is promoting the economic advantages of a Geological Disposal Facility given the fact that it is the government body charged with developing such a facility. The three Community Partnerships that have been formed in West Cumbria have been busily handing out copious volumes of glossy literature, holding exhibitions, distributing children’s colouring books, running vigorous advertisement campaigns in the local press, and releasing up-tempo videos, with little regard for how much public money they are frittering away.
They have also, of course, been so very generously handing out community “grants” to good local causes and charities, in an orchestrated attempt to win favour and “public support”. It’s not really their money of course. It’s your money, recycled through the tax system. These well published handouts are given, not primarily because these contrived agencies care about these good causes, but as part of the enormous charm initiative geared to persuade local people that a GDF is in their interests. West Cumbria is once again being groomed to accept what most other parts of the kingdom would reject out of hand. The nuclear waste being stored at Sellafield does not belong to the people of West Cumbria. It is a problem for the whole of the nation. In fact, it is a problem for the whole of the planet.
And now we see, in your article, the latest bit of “research”. We are handed the spectre of 4000 promised job. What the report fails to be clear about is that many of the jobs that are well paid will require skilled, experienced and specialist technicians, particularly in the development phase of the project. This knowledge base may not be available locally. In contrast CAfS [Cumbria Action for Sustainability] produced a report in 2021 that identified the potential to create 4,500 jobs in West Cumbria in return for a very modest investment in the green economy. Oh – and we would be giving the planet (our home) a much-needed boost.
The report, again, understandably given the skewed nature of its intentions, fails to mention some of the broader negative economic effects of the GDF on the selected area. For example, what would be the effect on tourism, on which Cumbria is so dependent? The Lake District National Park is excluded from the search area, we understand, but in parts the boundary lies extremely close. The local social infrastructure, such as housing, education, health and social care services, would need further investment to cater for the additional demands placed upon it. This would be on top of the cost of building and running a GDF (which is now estimated up towards 53 billion pounds!). Of course, these huge infrastructure projects have a habit of costing far more than the initial forecasts suggest. This is their nature. So the cost is already high and will indeed be stupendous in the long run.
We do need to deal with nuclear waste. As things stand, more highly toxic waste will be produced by Sizewell C and Hinckley Point C and the government is threatening to build even more nuclear power stations. The waste produced by these will be more poisonous than the legacy waste stored at Sellafield. So we will have to do something. But – and this is a big but – there is no GDF operating safely in the world at the moment. How can we be sure that today’s technologies will ensure the safe storage of highly toxic waste material for hundreds of thousands of years, for the generations that lie beyond? Well, the truth is, we can’t.
Keith Fitton
Chair of Allerdale and Copeland Green Party
Published in the News and Star 13.10.22
