It is tempting to think that Nirex, the disposal company for nuclear waste, will react to the British government's rejection of its dump plans for Sellafield by searching out an alternative site elsewhere. The likelihood however is that, despite being refused permission by Cumbria County Council and despite having its appeal rejected by Government, it will return with a modified proposal for the Sellafield site. This is the first significant public planning defeat for Britain's nuclear industry and Nirex has spent £400 million and many years planning for the Sellafield site. It is unlikely to take the defeat lying down.
Nirex planned to build a laboratory (to be known as a Rock Characterisation Facility) to test whether the area - two miles in from the coast and 3,000 feet down - would be suitable for dumping waste. There was little doubt, as Cumbria County Council argued, that if Nirex got the go ahead for the laboratory it would then be economically committed to go ahead with the dump regardless of what uncertainties persisted on the rock formations and what questions. remained on underground water movement. There was also little doubt that the very construction of the laboratory would weaken and degrade the site.
The British Secretary of State for the Environment, Mr John Gummer, rejected the proposal on the grounds that it was poorly designed, badly laid out, access arrangements were unsatisfactory and the facility would have had an unacceptably adverse effect on the surrounding area - notably the Lake District. National Park. Mr Gummer also made the welcome observation "that the people of Ireland have a legitimate interest in any proposal for a repository for radioactive waste near the Irish Sea coast".
The Irish Government - and in particular the Minister with direct responsibility, Mr Emmet Stagg - deserves credit for waging a staunch campaign against the Nirex plan; it was the first time the Irish Government was involved in a British planning inquiry. The Government also protested to the European Commission and made it clear that it would consider a legal challenge if necessary. Only last week, Mr Stagg submitted further objections to the British Department of Energy (based on an internal Nirex memo by its Director of Science which was at variance with the company's public pronouncements) and said that if the dump went ahead it would be a "bone of contention" between the Iwo countries for years to come.
Nirex, according to Mr Gummer, did not choose the Sellafield site in "an objective and methodical manner". Neither would the company release details of assessments of twelve other potential sites, in contravention of EU Directives, or even say where they are. The determination of Nirex to build at Sellafield, despite so much scientific evidence against it, is disturbing. There is no compelling argument for storing nuclear waste underground now. Surface storage should be persisted with so that storage technology and alternatives can be further examined. Neither should nuclear waste be stored anywhere other than where it is produced transportation of it across land (or across the Irish Sea to Sellafield) is a hazardous practice that cannot be justified the plain people of Germany made that clear earlier this month. Hopefully, the Government will now put pressure on all Sellafield's non UK customers to stop sending it business.