UNITE News Sector focus ENERGY
Nuclear storm
Choosing a site to build a new £12bn underground facility to bury nuclear waste was always going to be a toxic subject, even after decades of argument.
But after a handful of county councillors rejected having a geological study in their area, the prospect of progress being made is as far away as ever – to the huge dismay of Unite and other unions.
The 7-3 decision by Cumbria County Council leaders to reject plans for a study was followed by a series of blows to the nuclear industry which has left the government struggling to explain its future policies.
Within days of the Cumbria vote, the Commons public accounts committee published a damning report on the cost of decommissioning the nuclear site at Sellafield – £67bn and rising – Centrica pulled out of any involvement in building new nuclear reactors, and an opinion poll showed that public support for new nuclear plants has slipped amid uncertainty over the future of the power source in the UK.
The proportion of people in favour of building new reactors to replace the UK’s ageing fleet fell from 50 per cent in December
12 uniteWORKS March/April 2013
BY ALAN JONES
Local councillors have said no to geological studies into burying nuclear waste in Cumbria – but where does this leave Unite’s Sellafield workers, families, local job seekers, and hopes for a carbon-free energy future?
2011 to 42 per cent in December 2012. In football terms, that’s 4-0 down, leading players injured or suspended, with dwindling public support – or in other words, a proper crisis.
Unite officials have spent time since the Cumbria vote trying to at least encourage some urgent debate about what happens next in the search for a suitable underground site to bury nuclear waste.
“From a nuclear workers’ prospect, moving to a geological trial is an absolute no-brainer,” said Craig Dobson, a Unite convenor in Sellafield. “Talking about putting long-term waste into a more robust and suitable position is good for the safety of workers.
“Coupled with that, the multi-billion pound investment would create construction and operational jobs, and once we start getting the necessary skills into West Cumbria, it could be a catalyst for further work.
“We are only talking about going to the next stage in the process, and obviously the geology would have to be right before anything else happened, so the county council’s decision is extremely short-sighted – in fact it’s bewildering because doing
Mark Pinder
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