‘Radioactive’ mud ‘is no risk’ to health or the environment

ANGER over plans to dump “radioactive” mud in the Bristol Channel near Cardiff is “wrong, alarmist and goes against internationally accepted scientific evidence”, AMs have been told.

EDF Energy has defended plans to move hundreds of thousands of tonnes of mud from near Hinkley Point to an area in the Bristol Channel known as Cardiff Grounds.

Giving evidence to a petitions committee, EDF Energy officials said there was “no risk” to human health or the environment over plans to move 300,000 tonnes of sediment from the site of the Hinkley Point C to a sandbank near Cardiff.

Permission was granted in 2013 to move the material as part of plans to create a £19.6bn nuclear power station near the decommissioned Hinkley Point A nuclear power station in north Somerset.

The mud will be moved to allow for drilling to create water cooling shafts for the power station.

The reassurance comes after concerns were raised over the number of samples used to test the material and the type of radioactive material tested for.

A petition calling on the Welsh Government to suspend the licence allowing the material to be moved has received 7,033 signatures.

A second petition, from Greenpeace to EDF energy CEO Simone Rossi, has received more than 100,000 signatures calling for evidence to show the mud is “totally safe”.

Chris Fayers, head of environment for EDF Energy, said results from three studies show the mud is “not reactive”.

He said: “We have tested it independently, three times, and with worldleading international equipment to a highly conservative standard. Those standards are supported by Natural Resources Wales, Public Health Wales, the UK government and the UN. The petition is challenging all of those organisations and takes issue with internationally accepted practice.”

With the Bristol Channel a designated Special Area of Conservation, the Cardiff Grounds sandbank is the only licensed site big enough to keep the sediment within the protected area.

Assembly Members were told the radiology of the sediment was found to be 750 times less than average radon levels found in Pembrokeshire.

Three samples were taken from the material in 2009, 2013 and 2017.

Answering questions from Assembly Members, the company added that no further chemical testing is required before work is started.

Presenting his petition to the committee, pollution consultant Tim Deere-Jones raised questions over the depth of sediment tested and numbers of samples taken.

Concerns were also raised over the effect of the sediment on coastal zones due to the transfer of radionuclides from sea to land.

He said: “What we are worried about is the absence of baseline data in the Cardiff Bay area. The vast majority of the English coastline is not monitored on an annual basis.”