Bridgwater Don’t Panic! says our local MP Thebastian Blinkerton Courier page 7 Tuesday 6th October 2112 www.stophinkley.org Est. 1986 20p Hinkley on fire! Threat to nuclear waste store After two days of fires, smoke and This article is a glimpse into what could happen if the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station is built. We hope it never is. evacuation, emergency workers are To find out why Hinkley C is a bad idea – for safety, economic still not in control. Tanya Howitz reports: and environmental reasons – see www.stophinkley.org A heavy black cloud of smoke The waste storage vaults, The original plan was for the Hinkley C: A Very hung over the Hinkley Point site located next to the now defunct Flooding risk spent fuel from Hinkley C to be near Bridgwater yesterday as Hinkley Point C nuclear power There is also a threat of flooding transferred to a national waste Expensive Mistake firefighters fought to contain a station, contain an estimated from the Bristol Channel, only a disposal site. This was supposed The Hinkley C power station blaze near storage vaults for 3,000 tonnes of “spent fuel” – few hundred metres from the to open soon after 2040. But never worked properly, mainly highly radioactive waste. used fuel assemblies regularly vaults. there are still ongoing because of computing error The fire is believed to have removed from the two reactors In 2100 the sea, whose level arguments about where it will breakdowns. After cracks started in spilled diesel oil from over their 40 year operating life. had risen steadily over the 21st be sited and whether this is appeared in the concrete the back-up generators which This “high burn-up” uranium century, breached the defences acceptable to the local foundations, it was retired provide cooling if there is a loss fuel is hotter and more and penetrated the vault community. before its expected 60 year of mains electricity. A tight radioactive than any used before containment. Although lifespan. Although locals were security blackout was by the British nuclear industry. officials admitted that promised employment during its construction and maintained round the site, The operators, EDF, have some radioactivity had making it difficult to determine escaped, they operation, all the best jobs faced a constant battle to keep went to outsiders. whether the fire might have led the storage vaults cooled in emphasised that there to any release of radioactive order to stop their volatile was no need for the Hinkley C has cost the materials. contents from overheating or public to worry. They British public billions of spilling. In 2090 there also now admit that the pounds in subsidies, as well as was a leak from the effects of climate change the hidden costs of insurance Make your shed vaults, sparking an on sea levels have been cover and managing its alert in the nearby more extreme than aftermath of radioactive a nuke-proof village of Stogursey. expected, and their waste. Many local people now 200 people were asked response less effective. ask whether this money could shelter! have been better spent on to leave their homes So far, only a trial hole has other more reliable and less until the situation had Dump delayed been dug to see what the risky projects. been assessed. There is still no start date for geology might be like. Experts Everyone living in constructing the underground fear that over the thousands of ONLY the immediate vicinity “repository” which would be years for which the waste will of the power station used to bury radioactive waste have to be stored, underground Step back 100 years £2699 now has to wear a from decommissioned nuclear water channels will transfer any and trace the origins personal radiation power stations around the leaking radioactivity back to the of this disaster. www.nukeshed.com monitoring device. country. surface, risking people’s health. See centre pages Why we don’t need Hinkley C Today (2012) there are two The French electricity This would be the existing nuclear power company Electricite de first new nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point on France (EDF) now plans station in Britain for the Somerset coast. The to build the largest over 20 years. The oldest, Hinkley A, closed in nuclear power station in government says that 2000. Hinkley B is still the country next to the Hinkley C will be safe, operating, despite cracks in existing Hinkley plants. economic and is the reactor core, but is due The new development is urgently needed to to close in the next decade. called Hinkley “C”. combat climate change. Five reasons why they’re wrong: 1. Risks to health & safety Fukushima: A terrible warning Nuclear power stations risk a catastrophic The reactors proposed for Hinkley are a new In March 2011 an earthquake followed by a tsunami severely accident resulting in a large release of radioactive French design with no operating track record. damaged four nuclear reactors on the coast of northern material into the environment. This is what Safety issues are still not resolved. Radiation Japan. The fuel inside them melted, releasing radioactive happened at Chernobyl in 1986 and again at from the routine operation of nuclear power material into the atmosphere and sea. Fukushima in Japan in 2011 (see panel). This stations can affect the health of people living Eighteen months later more than 150,000 people cannot potential for a release of deadly radiation into the nearby. Studies show increased levels of cancer return to their homes, children have to wear masks in school atmosphere makes nuclear power stations a and infant deaths downwind of Hinkley Point playgrounds and health effects are emerging. Over a third of prime target for a terrorist attack. and in Burnham-on-Sea. nearly 40,000 children living near Fukushima have abnormal 2. Hazardous Waste growths on their thyroids. If an accident like Fukushima happened in Somerset, the Nuclear power in Britain has already left Residual radioactivity town of Bridgwater would have to be evacuated. a trail of hazardous material to be means that shut down guarded well beyond our lifetimes. power stations, like Hinkley It could happen here. In 1607 a massive wave swept inland There is still no final disposal site to A, take decades to clean up. from the sea across the area where Hinkley Point is now, securely contain this waste, let alone They will then have to be killing 2,000 people. that from any new power stations. securely guarded for The Japanese have learned to their cost that nuclear power The highly radioactive fuel from decades more. Some nuclear can come up with unpleasant surprises. All 54 reactors Hinkley C would be stored on site, despite waste will remain radioactive operating in the country were shut down after the accident for up to a million years. the risk of sea flooding, for at least 100 years. and the government is now planning to abandon nuclear completely. 3. Massively Expensive Nuclear power has always proved more The new generation of nuclear plants are expensive than predicted, with regular subsidies proving just as expensive. In France, an identical The Lights Won’t Go Out! and loans from the government. The cost of reactor to the one planned for Hinkley has The UK can keep the lights on and reduce its carbon footprint decommissioning our existing nuclear plants has almost doubled in cost from €3 billion to €6 without falling back on nuclear power. This will need a much risen to a massive £70 billion. Most of this bill billion. EDF is now asking for a massive stronger commitment to energy saving and increasing our will be picked up by taxpayers. government subsidy to build Hinkley C. range of renewable energy sources. Every year, we throw away more than eight times the 4. There are better ways to reduce CO2 amount of energy supplied by all of the UK’s nuclear Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) Using renewable energy instead “We need power stations combined. Pound for pound, produced by power stations is good for the would save much more carbon to learn to be reducing energy demand is the most effective way to climate. But nuclear power produces more CO2 dioxide and avoid all the problems cut emissions of carbon dioxide (the main than is claimed. of waste and accidents. good ancestors” greenhouse gas contributing to climate change). Ralph Nader While the cost of nuclear power escalates, 5. Building Hinkley C will bring renewable energy gets cheaper. Solar photovoltaic more problems than benefits panels are expected to be cost competitive with coal-fired Over 400 acres of agricultural land, woods and A new line of the largest overhead pylons will electricity by 2020. hedgerows will be sacrificed and coastal nature stretch 37 miles from Hinkley Point to Bristol. Surrounded by waves, tides and windy coasts, we are already reserves damaged. The area will be blighted for Only 20% of construction jobs will go to people committed to generating more of our electricity from up to ten years. Already overcrowded roads will from Somerset. Local democracy has been over- renewables. Other countries are showing the way. Germany be jammed with heavy vehicles, noise will echo ruled. There will be no public inquiry into EDF’s (population 80 million) currently gets 20% of its electricity through the local villages. The coastline will be plans and the final decision will be taken by the from renewables and is looking for at least 80% by 2050. At the scarred by a jetty to bring in aggregate. government. same time it is phasing out nuclear.