Surely it will make sense to test more

TWO years ago controversy raged over the dumping of large quantities of mud from Hinkley Point nuclear power station in the Severn Estuary off Cardiff.

While EDF, the developer of a new power station on the site of an old one, and Natural Resources Wales, the regulator, insisted the mud was perfectly safe, protesters insisted there was serious cause for concern.

While tests had been carried out on samples of the mud which apparently confirmed its harmlessness, that was not accepted by the project’s opponents, who claim the wrong test was carried out.

Most of us in the middle don’t really know what to think.

Ill-equipped to make scientific judgements on what is clearly a complex matter, it is easy to be confused by the rhetoric on both sides.

While we are naturally inclined to be reassured that the mud poses no danger to human health or the environment, we can’t help having nagging doubts.

The nuclear industry has not been disaster-free, and there have also been concerns about the impact of exposure to radioactive elements linked to power stations, even in trace form.

In the current consultation exercise to see whether more mud from Hinkley Point should be dumped off Cardiff, a physics professor from Imperial College, London has argued forcefully that the level of testing envisaged by EDF is inadequate.

Professor Keith Barnham insists that there are grounds for believing that a leak of plutonium which took place at Hinkley Point in 1969, together with problems related to plutonium cladding, are sufficient to suspect that the mud dumped – and to be dumped – off Cardiff could be contaminated.

He says more tests than those already planned should go ahead, and that if plutonium is identified, civil engineers working at Hinkley Point should themselves have their lungs tested.

Again, most of us do not have the expertise to make a judgement on the validity of Prof Barnham’s call.

However, there is a well-established concept called the precautionary principle, which suggests that where there is doubt, the matter should be looked at again.

In the coronavirus outbreak, one of the most controversial elements is the extent to which people have been tested.

The widespread view is that not enough testing has been done.

With the Hinkley Point mud, too, it surely makes sense to undertake the level of testing called for by Prof Barnham.