UK radwastedump controversy

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

This is an article from Reuters News Service... 

 LONDON  - Environmental activists said Wednesday a  leaked document 
from Britain's state-owned nuclear waste disposal company Nirex 
showed that a dump planned near the scenic Lake District in northwest 
England could never be safe.   ``It seems the truth is finally out. 
There is no safety case  for the Nirex dump,'' Helen Wallace of 
Greenpeace, the environment protection lobby group, said in a 
statement.   A memo from Nirex science director John Holmes leaked to 
 Cumbria County Council said options for the site included 
deciding it was not viable for a waste dump, carrying out more 
research or changing computer models. 
  The memo appeared to indicate that volcanic rocks on the  
site might prove unsuitable and lead to possible radioactive 
leaks, according to council members. 
  Cumbria County Council, the local authority for the area of  
the site, which is between the Lake District and the Sellafield 
power station, called for the government to delay a decision on 
Nirex's plans and for a public inquiry to be reopened. 
  The Department of the Environment said that if new evidence  
or issues have come to light since the public inquiry, which 
ended mid-1996, ``they should be submitted to the environment 
secretary (minister) as soon as possible.'' 
  Cumbria County Council called for ``every effort (to) be  
made to urgently obtain as much updated information as 
possible.'' 
  Nirex said that the issues raised in the memorandum were  
``thoroughly aired in the public inquiry.'' It said in a 
statement that if the site were not ``scientifically suitable, 
Nirex has always said it will walk away.'' 
  But it added that ``...neither data arising since (1995  
assesements) nor subsequent modelling...leads the company to 
change its view that the...site holds good promise as a suitable deep
repository location.'' 
  Greenpeace's Wallace called on British Environment Minister  
John Gummer to reject Nirex's plans for digging at the site, 
which requires government approval. 

Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

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