from Sunday Herald, 17 January 2010
Scottish ministers have abandoned their ban on nuclear waste dumping, opening the way for a proliferation of permanent radioactive dumps across Scotland.
In a major but unnoticed shift of policy, the environment minister Richard Lochhead has dropped his pledge to ensure that waste was only kept in stores near nuclear sites where it could be easily monitored and retrieved in case of leaks.
In a new policy document launched on Friday, the Scottish government is now also considering creating underground “disposal” facilities from which there would be no intention of retrieving the waste. This has led to accusations that the government could end up dispersing radioactivity in the environment.
It means that nuclear dumps could be created for centuries at or near existing nuclear sites at Dounreay in Caithness, Hunterston in North Ayrshire, Torness in East Lothian and Chapelcross in Dumfries and Galloway. The waste would remain dangerous for thousands of years.
In 2007, Lochhead rejected the UK government’s policy of deep geological disposal for nuclear waste. “Our policy for waste in Scotland is to support long-term near surface, near site storage facilities so that the waste is monitorable and retrievable,” he said.
But on Friday this was changed to “near surface, near site facilities”, leaving out the crucial word ‘storage’. This is because the government has substantially shifted its ground under pressure from the nuclear industry.
“Engagement with stakeholders on the waste arising in Scotland has also identified the option for extending policy to include near surface, near site disposal as well as near surface, near site storage,” said the government’s consultation document.
Disposal is defined as “the emplacement of the waste is a specialised land-based disposal facility without the intent to retrieve it at a later time.” And near surface means facilities located at the surface or at depths of “down to several tens of metres below the surface”.
“The Scottish government certainly has questions to answer about why it wants to change its laudable policy of near site, near surface storage of waste to also include disposal,” said Edinburgh-based nuclear consultant, Pete Roche.
“Obviously this could lead to a proliferation of mini-nuclear dumps all over Scotland, and ministers need to give assurances that this is not going to happen.”
Roche argued that there was an important principle at stake. “Radioactive contamination would leak from the dumps and we shouldn't be in the business of diluting and dispersing radioactivity around the environment,” he warned.
Friends of the Earth Scotland was also worried about the new policy. “The vast majority of the higher activity wastes do not have established disposal routes and need to be stored and managed for the long term,” said the environmental group’s chief executive, Duncan McLaren.
It is unclear from the Scottish government’s consultation document how much of what kind of radioactive waste could end up in dumps rather than stores. Some are concerned that by far the largest portion of the waste - radioactive graphite from reactors - could be destined for dumps.
As well as graphite, the waste includes radioactive metals, sludges, liquids, and concrete, as well as materials contaminated with plutonium. There are about 27,600 cubic metres of the waste - not including reactor spent fuel - mostly from Dounreay, Hunterston, Chapelcross and Torness.
The Scottish government refused to say exactly what waste was likely to end up in disposal facilities rather than stores. “The potential was identified for near surface, near site disposal as an option for some higher activity radioactive waste,” a government spokeswoman told the Sunday Herald.
“This does not impact on the Scottish government’s opposition to deep geological disposal, which we do not support.” Waste producers would also have to minimise the amount of waste proposed for disposal, she said.
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