Muddying the waters over radioactive waste

THE Welsh Anti-Nuclear Alliance and 34 signatories from across the UK recently wrote to the First Minister urging him to take a cautious approach to the human health aspects of EdF’s plan to dump more Hinkley Point mud at Cardiff.

During his bid to be elected Labour leader in 2018, Mark Drakeford had said he would set up an Expert Group on the mud.

He confirmed this intention early this year.

Our letter therefore outlined the scientific issues and nominated several experts who, in the 2018 mud dump episode, had submitted detailed evidence on the radioactive particles likely to be in the mud and on their potential to be blown inland and damage people’s health.

We have received a reply from Sharon Davies, Marine Licensing Manager in the Welsh Government’s Marine and Fisheries Division.

Ms Davies’ letter reveals that the Welsh Government has a settled view of the Expert Group, which she now refers to as an “Expert Stakeholder Group”.

We were told some weeks ago that a chair had been selected and the letter says the remaining members (or “nominees”) have been decided.

All remain nameless but Ms Davies lists their areas of expertise. It does not include radiobiology or radiation protection but does end with a tantalising “et cetera”. Apparently, no update will be issued “until discussions with the nominees have been concluded”. We suggest that this group will enjoy only limited public confidence unless its membership is made more transparent and accountable.

Ms Davies’ position shows no shift away from the arguments the Welsh Government used to defend the 2018 dump.

She says compliance with international standards and guidelines is not only required by marine licensing legislation but is also sufficient to comply with the Well-being of Future Generation (Wales) Act 2015 and the Environment (Wales) Act 2016.

This is untrue; as early as 2018 Dr Tim Deere-Jones pointed out that there is nothing to stop a government taking a more precautionary approach if uncertainties have been identified and this is explicit in both Welsh Acts. What’s new is that the licence EdF used to enforce the 2018 dump predated both of those Acts.

The licence they need now will have to comply with both, whatever Ms Davies believes.

Our letter identified great uncertainty about the numbers of uranium and plutonium particles in the mud and actual evidence of the health consequences of inhaling those contaminants. Ms Davies offers no response. Instead she emphasises the status of CEFAS (the Westminster Government’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) and the robustness of Action Levels. She fails to mention our evidence that such standards are defined in terms of average doses – a concept which massively fails to describe the reality of inhaling uranium and plutonium particles.

Likewise she fails to acknowledge that the tests CEFAS used for the 2018 dump cannot detect uranium and plutonium particles.

She fails to address the recent scientific evidence we submitted showing that they cause unexpectedly high rates of cancer, leukaemia and congenital malformations.

There is limited utility in discussing these matters through the letters page of a national newspaper.

The right place is an Expert Group such as the First Minister offered. He should call in this decision.

Richard Bramhall Chair, Welsh Anti-Nuclear Alliance Llandrindod