Call for Commissioner to step in to mud row

INDEPENDENT AM Neil McEvoy has urged Future Generations Commissioner Sophie Howe to step in to the row over mud from the Hinkley Point nuclear power station being dumped in the Severn Estuary off Cardiff.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters concerned about potential health risks gathered outside the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, calling for the dumping licence for 300,000 tonnes of mud to be revoked.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the quango which issued the licence in 2014, says it is satisfied that the mud is safe, and that it would face a costly legal challenge it would lose if it sought to withdraw the licence.

But Mr McEvoy and other opponents of the dumping believe further tests should be undertaken to establish whether the mud contains a hazardous level of radioactive particles.

Welsh nuclear researcher Dr David Lowry said: “NRW, as a regulator of the ecosphere for Welsh citizens and the range of fauna, has a duty to protect those it is charged legally to protect. Their attitude to being challenged is to grab the ball and say it is theirs, and in my view this is a gross dereliction of duty, and quite properly should be legally challenged by concerned residents of south east Wales, whose future health is at potentially serious risk.

“The support of the Welsh Government for the dumping is incomprehensible, unless their support for Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station in the north, and desire not to be seen to be concerned about nuclear safety worries, means they are prepared to compromise the safety of their voters and wider Welsh citizens in the south.”

Earlier this month Ms Howe said: “The decision to grant a marine licence... was taken in 2014 and [it] was issued by NRW in 2014, before the Well-being of Future Generations Act came into force on April 1, 2016.

“I cannot overturn a decision already taken and I cannot ask for a decision to be changed. I can recommend a future change in the process leading to a public body’s decision but I cannot determine the outcome of specific decisions at any given time.”

Mr McEvoy has written to Ms Howe stating: “For you to state that the decision was taken in 2014 is not correct. The final decision on the licence was decided in the summer of 2018.

“Given the issues I have outlined, you should be challenging the dumping. I urge you to use the Wales Environment Act 2016 and the Well Being of Future Generations Act 2015 to take Natural Resources Wales to task.

“As the appointed guardian of the environment in Wales, you must act. If you feel unable to do so, you should resign.”

A spokesman for Ms Howe’s office said her position has not changed.