Cumbrian Coal Mine Pushes Hard to Bypass Nuclear Aspects of Marine License

PRESS RELEASE

Monday 8th April

Cumbrian Coal Mine Pushes Hard to Bypass Nuclear Aspects of Marine License

Campaigners have discovered that the Cumbrian coal mine, despite being subject to

two ongoing legal challenges is pushing to bypass any regulatory controls concerning

offshore extraction of coal under the Irish Sea off the Cumbrian coast.

Notwithstanding the legal challenges by South Lakes Action on Climate Change

and Friends of the Earth on climate impacts, West Cumbria Mining (WCM) are

pushing ahead to discharge the planning conditions put in place to mitigate a variety

of adverse impacts. 

Planning Condition 22 states that “no construction works shall take place

until either a Marine Licence is granted or, if a licence is not required, that this

information has been submitted to and agreed in writing by the minerals planning

authority.” Freedom of Information requests by Friends of the Earth reveal that the

developers are lobbying the council’s planning authority (formerly Cumbria, now

Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness) in order to bypass the regulatory scrutiny of

a Marine License.

“Nuclear Impacts Ignored”

Radiation Free Lakeland (RFL), the nuclear safety group who were first to oppose the

coal mine in 2017, point out that “our most serious concerns remain the close

proximity to Sellafield, earthquake risks, subsidence and transboundary impacts. All of

these concerns have been brushed aside, firstly by Cumbria County Council and then

by the Planning Inquiry as being issues that “would be considered by the Marine

Management Organisation as part of the licensing process.”

New Coal Mine Like No Other in Proximity to Sellafield – can kicked down the road indefinitely

Despite the Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State stating that “potential

transboundary effects from the offshore components “would be considered” by the

MMO,” the developers clear aim is to bypass offshore regulatory controls includingnuclear safety aspects of their proposed coal mine just five miles from the worlds

 riskiest nuclear waste and plutonium site. 

Clear and Present Danger Ignored

The nuclear impacts say RFL have “unlike the blanket coverage of the mine’s climate impacts been given zero attention. That avoidance looks like a deliberate and ongoing ploy despite the clear and present danger to Cumbria and our European neighbours from a radiological catastrophe.”

“Rubber Stamp”

As revealed in the email correspondence seen by Friends of the Earth, the coal mine’s

push to be granted “a rubber stamp” hinges on section 66(1)(7) of the Marine and

Coastal Access Act 2009 that they will not “construct, alter or improve any works […]

under the seabed.” West Cumbria Mining justify this in a statement to the Marine

Management Organisation saying that: “On the basis that all WCM will do under the

seabed is extract coal (not construct, alter or improve anything at all), the Act cannot

apply.” This justification by the developers is at odds with reality. Mass voids under

the seabed created by extraction of coal will, according to WCM’s plans be backfilled.

The backfill would consist of poor-quality unsaleable coal and rock spoil crushed and

added to water and cement to be pumped into the voids in an attempt to mitigate

against subsidence of the seabed above the coal mine. 

Under the Coal Mine, the Sellafield Mud Patch

Radiation Free Lakeland note

that the seabed here holds most of the radioactive burden from decades of Sellafield

discharge to the Irish Sea and is known as the Sellafield Mud Patch. Resuspension of

the silts would result in increased radiological burden to marine-life and humans.

Richard Outram of Nuclear Free Local Authorities has pointed out that: “surely they

(WCM) are ALTER-ing something under the seabed by extracting coal. The Oxford

English Dictionary defines an Alternation as ‘a change to something that makes it

different’. If the coal is there and is then no longer there then surely the geological

composition and structure beneath the seabed is being changed and thereby

altered?”

Earthquake and Subsidence

Regarding earthquake risks from the coal mine the Planning Inspector in his

recommendation to Government stated: “the risk of a seismic event cannot be

ruled out.” However, the Planning Inquiry afforded “limited weight” to “future

seismic events” leaving this along with other impacts such as subsidence and

resuspension of radioactive wastes on the seabed from decades of Sellafield’s

discharges to scrutiny by the Marine Management Organisation.

Hair Raising Twist in the Tale

Radiation Free Lakeland say that yet another hair-raising twist in the tale of this coal

mine is the appointment of the coal boss, CEO Mark Kirkbride to the Committee on

Radioactive Waste Management in 2019. Kirkbride’s ongoing role in the Department for

Energy Security and Net Zero’s sponsored Committee is to advise Government on

construction of a deep geological disposal facility for the UK’s heat generating nuclear

wastes. Two of the three areas in the frame for a very deep nuclear facility for high level

nuclear wastes (South and Mid Copeland) are in West Cumbria. Coincidentally these

two areas are adjacent to Mark Kirkbride’s coal mine.

ENDS

Contact

Radiation Free Lakeland – Marianne Birkby (contact supplied)

Attached 

Letter to Westmorland and Furness – and Cumberland Council  from Friends of the Earth

Press Release 

Below – Letter to Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Furness from Radiation Free Lakeland

Image – First Demonstration Against the Coal Mine Highlights Sellafield Proximity – Radiation Free Lakeland 2017

References

Radiation Free Lakeland protest 2017 “Opponents of the mine fear that having

coal drifts extend to within 8km of the Sellafield ponds, containing high level

nuclear wastes, could put the public at risk. They raised concerns about the

proximity of the potential mining activity to the nuclear facility.”

https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/16750176.campaigners-protest-over-coal-

mining-plans/

Marianne Bennett founder of the nuclear safety group Radiation Free Lakeland whose

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole campaign was first to call out coal mine on nuclear

and climate grounds and delayed the plans with legal challenge said: “The Government

U-turn on a public inquiry is brilliant news, provided the inquiry also offers a further

opportunity for the nuclear impacts of the proposal to be looked at again, given the

development will take place under decades of Sellafield’s radioactive wastes and just

five miles from the world’s riskiest nuclear waste site. We will be calling for that scrutiny

to happen alongside the climate change issues.”

https://www.leighday.co.uk/news/news/2021-news/public-inquiry-announced-into-

plan-for-cumbrian-coal-mine/

South Lakes Action on Climate Change legal challenge.

– climate focus

https://cornerstonebarristers.com/legal-challenge-to-controversial-new-coal-mine-in-

whitehaven-cumbria/

Friends of the Earth legal challenge – climate focus

https://cdn.friendsoftheearth.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/Whitehaven%20Legal%

20Briefing%20260423_0.pdf

“the risk of a seismic event cannot be ruled out” however the Planning Inquiry

afforded “limited weight” to “future seismic events” ( leaving this along with other

impacts such as subsidence and resuspension of radioactive wastes on the

seabed from decades of Sellafield’s discharges, to scrutiny by the Marine

Management Organisation). Report to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up,

Housing and Communities by Stephen Normington BSc DipTP MRICS MRTPI FIQ FIHE

an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Date 7 April 2022- 21.245 – Costs IR

3271069.pdf

Briefing paper commissioned by Radiation Free Lakeland June 2020 : Radiological

Implications of Potential Seabed Subsidence, Seismicity and “Fault Re-

Activation” beneath the Cumbrian Mud Patch: Induced by “Mass Removal,” Rapid

Extraction and Void Space Creation – by Tim Deere-Jones Independent & non-

aligned Marine Pollution Researcher & Consultant

“Major Conclusions

It is noted that there is a lack of data about the status of the existing historical galleries

and workings of the West Cumbrian Coalfield. It is noted that there is a lack of accurate

data about the history and status of any subsidence seismicity in the coalfield. It is

noted that the BGS have concluded that the coalfield is heavily faulted and has a long

history of subsidence and that it appears that there are no plans to monitor for any

subsidence prior to, during the operational phase or in the post operational phase of

the Woodhouse Colliery. It is noted that sub-sea monitoring equipment is available and

could be deployed in the region in order to monitor for any subsidence effects arising as

a result of the proposed Woodhouse Colliery “mass removal” extraction.

…there is a real potential for subsidence to occur as a result of the “mass removal”

and the creation of extensive sub-sea void spaces, and it is noted that such subsidence

could generate earthquake and liquefaction effects which may extend onshore as far as

the Sellafield/Moorside sites.

….any seabed subsidence in the WCM designated sub-sea mining zone would generate

re-suspension of Cumbrian Mud Patch heavily radioactive seabed sediments. It is

noted that such an event would generate elevated doses of man-made radioactivity to

coastal zone populations and sea users along both the Cumbrian coast and at

“downstream” regions further afield.”Given the potential for such a radiological effect and the delivery of increased doses of

radioactivity to relevant coastal zone communities, some of which have already been

identified by the authorities as Coastal Critical Groups, the Woodhouse Colliery

proposal (especially in the absence of any precautionary mandatory subsidence

monitoring) is strongly contra-indicated and should be abandoned

https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2020/06/11/briefing-paper-

radiological-implications-of-potential-seabed-subsidence-seismicity-fault-re-

activation-beneath-the-cumbrian-mud-patch-induced-by-mass-removal/

Committee on Radioactive Waste Management

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/committee-on-radioactive-waste-

management/about

Sellafield. http//www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/2023/12/05/sellafield-nuclear-site-

has-leak-that-could-have-potentially-significant-consequences-guardian-reports/

5th April 2024Sent by Email to Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Furness

Dear Tim,

Cumbria Coal Mine Seeking to Bypass Marine License in Condition 22

Please find enclosed a letter from Niall Toru, Senior Lawyer with Friends of the Earth.

The letter is addressed to Cumberland, and Westmorland & Furness Councils and

outlines correspondence between West Cumbria Mining and the councils with regard

marine licensing of the coal mine.

The letter states: “despite the legal challenges, WCM will presumably be working to

discharge the various planning conditions, which were put in place to mitigate the

adverse effects of the proposal and make it acceptable in planning terms. One such

condition is that no construction works shall take place until either a marine licence is

granted or, if a licence is not required, that this information has been submitted to and

agreed in writing by the minerals planning authority.” Presently the minerals planning

authority with responsibility for ensuring due regulatory scrutiny is Westmorland and

Furness.

Radiation Free Lakeland’s opposition to the coal mine began in 2017 with our most

serious concerns regarding proximity to Sellafield, earthquake risks, subsidence and

transboundary impacts being brushed aside, firstly by Cumbria County Council and

then by the Planning Inquiry as being issues that “would be considered by the Marine

Management Organisation as part of the licensing process.” Despite the Planning

Inspector and the Secretary of State clearly stating that “potential transboundary

effects from the offshore components “would be considered” by the MMO,” West

Cumbria Mining told the Planning Inspector that “we may not need a marine licence.”

As revealed in the email correspondence by Friends of the Earth, WCM’s desire that

they should be granted a rubber stamp hinges on section 66(1)(7) of the Marine and

Coastal Access Act 2009 that they will not “construct, alter or improve any works […]under the seabed.” West Cumbria Mining have blithely stated to the Marine

Management Organisation that: “There will be no construction of any structures or

other installations underground in the offshore portion of the mine – the only activity is

the mining of coal. Once the room and pillar sections have been mined, all temporary

equipment is removed and those sections are permanently abandoned.” This magical

scenario of WCM’s is aimed at circumventing a marine licence and is at odds with the

practicalities of construction of a coal mine and intended backfilling with cement paste

(with the aim of mitigating the inevitable subsidence). Friends of the Earth point out

that “on the equipment being ‘temporary’, we note the planning permission runs until

2049. On the mined sections being ‘permanently abandoned’, we note the proposal is

in fact to add water and cement to any mined rock and unsaleable coal to convert it into

paste, and for that paste to then “be pumped back underground for deposit in the void

spaces created by mining…WCM recently stated to the MMO: “On the basis that all

WCM will do under the seabed is extract coal (not construct, alter or improve anything

at all), the Act cannot apply” (emphasis in original quote).”

Clearly West Cumbria Mining are pushing hard to circumvent proper scrutiny and

regulatory control over the largest and most damaging part of the coal mine – the sub-

sea area under the Sellafield Mud Patch and just five miles from the Sellafield site.

Our own experience is as Friends of the Earth have pointed out “When consulted at

various stages from 2017 to 2020 on the planning application, the MMO declined to

comment. This was on the basis it would be reviewing potential impacts on the marine

environment through the marine licence application. And when asked by WCM in 2018

to review its marine environmental impact assessment, the MMO confirmed then that

“it has been established that [the offshore] works are licensable”. Other consultees,

such as the RSPB, also made their representations on the understanding that marine

impacts would be considered as part of a later marine licence application.”

The Planning Inspector in his recommendation to Government stated : “the risk of a

seismic event cannot be ruled out” however the Planning Inquiry afforded “limited

weight” to “future seismic events” presumably leaving this to scrutiny by the

Marine Management Organisation ( Report to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up,

Housing and Communities by Stephen Normington BSc DipTP MRICS MRTPI FIQ FIHE

an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State Date 7 April 2022- 21.245 )

This would be a coal mine like no other with its uniquely dangerous location underneath

the Sellafield Mud Patch and just five miles from the world’s largest stockpile of

plutonium. These are issues that have been sidelined up until now and West Cumbria

Mining are keen that these issues should continue to be dangerously sidelined.The CEO of West Cumbria Mining is Mark Kirkbride who was appointed to the

Committee on Radioactive Waste Management in 2019 to advise on construction of a

deep geological disposal facility for the UK’s heat generating nuclear wastes. Radiation

Free Lakeland note the worrying precedent of a government appointed “invaluable

advisor” seeking to actively circumvent regulatory controls over his coal mining

business interests.

Radiation Free Lakeland join with Friends of the Earth, the Nuclear Free Local

Authorities and Close Capenhurst Campaign in urging Westmorland and Furness

Council along with Cumberland Council to ensure Condition 22 maintains the

requirement of a Marine Licence from the Marine Management Organisation rather

than a rubber stamp with zero regulatory control and scrutiny over the potentially

catastrophic sub-sea aspects of the coal mine.

We would be very grateful if you could ensure that Westmorland and Furness Council

as the body with responsibility for Minerals and Waste, are urged to ensure that

Condition 22 is not watered down to a mere rubber stamp by the Council but that

WCM’s coal mine goes through due regulatory process with full Marine Licence

application.

Yours sincerely,

Marianne Birkby on behalf of Radiation Free Lakeland (address supplied)

https://www.lakesagainstnucleardump.com

Richard Outram, Secretary of Nuclear Free Local Authorities

Latest news and information

Martyn Lowe, Close Capenhurst

http://close-capenhurst.org.uk/

Business Interest of Govnt Nuclear Dump Advisor is Earthquake Inducing Coal Mine Near Sellafield.

PRESS NOTICE

A letter has been sent with a petition of almost 2000 signatures urging the removal of the Cumbria coal mine boss from his 2019 appointment to top level nuclear dump advisor. The petition started by local artist and campaigner Marianne Birkby asks for the CEO of the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years to be sacked from his key role providing “invaluable advice” to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

CoRWM is an advisory non-departmental public body. It was established in 2003 and has a remit to provide independent scrutiny and advice to UK government and devolved administrations on the long-term management of radioactive waste, including storage and geological disposal. CoRWM provides advice to the Community GDF Partnerships.

A year ago on 7th Dec 2022 Mark Kirkbride’s coal mine was given the green light by the Secretary of State Michael Gove. At the same time the waters of Whitehaven ran red with pollution from the culvert in Queen’s Dock – this is now known to be from the honeycomb of existing mines in the area which campaigners claim may have in part or in whole been reactivated by the nuclear dump advisor’s coal mine borehole investigations and hydrological flushing. The water in Whitehaven continues to run red. Martyn Lowe from Close Capenhurst Campaign has pointed out that “the red water in the harbour is increasing not decreasing – this is a red flag for future mining.”

Campaigners point out that the advice given to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management by Mark Kirkbride includes using the same preferred suppliers such as Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines as his coal mine and say that ” this is a corruption of any semblence of democracy and is blatant government/business cronyism”. The petition calls for Mark Kirkbride to be sacked from the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management as soon as possible – currently the coal boss is due to be nuclear dump advisor until 2027.

ENDS contact Lakes Against Nuclear Dump …. https://www.lakesagainstnucleardump.com/

Full Letter

TO THE CHAIR,

COMMITTEE ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT.

7th Dec 2023

Dear Sir Nigel Thrift, Please find attached a petition numbering 1,714 signatures.

The petition asks for the CEO of the first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years to be sacked from his key role providing, as you have said “invaluable advice” to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management. On this day last year Mark Kirkbride’s coal mine was given the green light by the Secretary of State. At the same time the waters of Whitehaven ran red with pollution from the culvert in Queen’s Dock – this is now known to be from the honeycomb of existing mines in the area which may have in part or in whole been reactivated by CoRWM’s nuclear dump advisor’s coal mine borehole investigations and hydrological flushing. The water in Whitehaven continues to run red.

CRONYISM COAL AND NUCLEAR

In reply to a Freedom of Information Request of October 2020 you claim that “West Cumbria Mining and the business interest of Mr Kirkbride, bear no influence on the remit of CoRWM”. However our research through Freedom of Information requests has indicated that Mark Kirkbride’s business interests have undue influence on the remit of CoRWM which is to provide advice to Nuclear Waste Services and Government. One of Mark Kirkbride’s key tasks in his appointment with CoRWM is to provide advice on construction and costings of a Geological Disposal Facility for Heat Generating Nuclear Wastes.

SHARED SUPPLIER LIST

Mark Kirkbride has contributed to a 2020 thesis from the University of Manchester in which he indicates that GDF construction would use the same suppliers as his coal mine. The thesis is called “Waste Disposal Drivers for a Range of Nuclear Power Systems by Kathleen Dungan” The thesis says in Appendix B that “The following costs were sent by Mark Kirkbride (Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM)” and the costs include “shafts sunk using Herrenknecht shaft boring roadheader machines (Herrenknecht, 2020a).” In trying to distance themselves from this revelation CoRWM have claimed that Mark Kirkbride gave this information to Manchester University off his own bat – i.e. not with CoRWM’s approval. Whether it was with CoRWMs approval or not this indicates that Kirkbride’s business interests with his coal mine and the remit of CoRWM are mutually interdependent.

TUNNEL BORING MACHINES FOR DEEP MINING (COAL AND NUCLEAR)

Herrenknecht are also named as “preferred suppliers” by West Cumbria Mining – the same named suppliers Mark Kirkbride is advising CoRWM on construction of a Geological Disposal Facility. We would not be surprised to find other West Cumbria Mining “preferred suppliers” are being touted for the investigation techniques and construction of a deep nuclear dump and urge CoRWM to terminate the employment of the West Cumbria Mining CEO as their Geological Disposal Facility (nuclear dump) advisor.

GOVERNMENT LICENCE TO DRILL FOR COAL ALONGSIDE NUCLEAR PLANS

We note that Mark Kirkbride’s licence to drill for coal lapsed in October 2022 and he is looking to government via the Coal Authority to approve a new licence to drill. Clearly Mark Kirkbride cannot be government advisor and hopeful of government approval for licences for his coal mine at one and the same time. This flies in the face of any semblence of democracy and is worthy of the most corrupt of countries especially as the most favoured area for a deep nuclear dump is next to Mark Kirkbride’s business interests in West Cumbria.

At the very least Kirkbride’s contract as CoRWM advisor should be terminated

THE BEST NUCLEAR DUMP ADVISOR IN THE WORLD IS THE COAL MINE CEO? Really??

If CoRWM believe that Mark Kirkbride is the only person in the world CoRWM can turn to for advice on the deep burial of nuclear wastes (deep burial and abandonment is not accepted universally as the safest option) then surely CoRWM should make it clear to Mark Kirkbride that his business interests in West Cumbria Mining should be scrapped. INVESTIGATION In any event we are calling for an independent investigation into how this situation of cronyism has been allowed to continue for so long on what amounts to the most important issue of our time – namely the safekeeping of heat generating nuclear wastes which have to be kept separate from the biosphere into eternity in order to ensure a liveable planet.

Yours sincerely Marianne Birkby Lakes Against Nuclear Dump full address supplied

PETITION

https://www.change.org/p/sack-cumbrian-coal-mine-boss-from-government-advisor-role-for-nuclear-dump Mark Kirkbride – Committee on Radioactive Waste Management https://www.gov.uk/government/people/mark-kirkbridg Endorsement of Coal Mine Under the Cumbrian Mud Patch ? https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/endorsement_of_coal_mine_under_t “Waste Disposal Drivers for a Range of Nuclear Power Systems by Kathleen Dungan” Appendix B “The following costs were sent by Mark Kirkbride (Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM)” and the costs include “shafts sunk using Herrenknecht shaft boring roadheader machines (Herrenknecht, 2020a).” https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/waste-disposal-drivers-for-a-range-of-nuclear-power-systems West Cumbria Mining – preferred suppliers. https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/your-local-coal-mine/ Close Capenhurst http://close-capenhurst.org.uk/

The Full Text of the Petition is below

On behalf of Government, Secretary of State Michael Gove approved the coal mine on 7th December 2022. The CEO of “Woodhouse Colliery” and West Cumbria Mining is Mark Kirkbride. In 2019 Mark Kirkbride was appointed to the Government Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to advise on the UK Government’s nuclear dump plans. His appointment has been extended to 2027. Kirkbride’s “invaluable” role involves: Scrutiny and provision of advice to Government on activities relating to the continued development of a Geological Disposal Facility (hot nuclear dump) safety case Scrutiny and provision of advice to Government on GDF siting activities, including selection criteria, methods of investigation, and the timescale for carrying out site selection in the three rock types Advise on new technologies that could be applicable to the development of a GDF including those in the mining and construction sectors and their potential impacts on a GDF programme. Mark Kirkbride has recently provided costings to Government for the Delivery of a GDF (Nuclear Dump) including advice on enormous Tunnel Boring Machines from the same company (Herrenknecht) which would supply his coal mine. This is a direct conflict of interest. Mark Kirkbride has clearly advised on the hugely damaging seismic blasting which took place in August in the Irish Sea to “investigate” the complex geology for a deep nuclear dump. The enormous area of the Irish Sea in which seismic blasting took take place overlaps Kirkbride’s proposed coal mine. Mark Kirkbride’s ‘investigative boreholes’ for his coal mine may well have led to the reactivation of old mine water which has been pouring out into Whitehaven Harbour for a full year now with no end in sight. The Coal Mine Planning Inspector in his recommendation to Government stated : “the risk of a seismic event cannot be ruled out.” It is beyond belief that the CEO of a seismicity inducing coal mine near Sellafield should be employed by Government as an “invaluable” advisor on nuclear waste burial in a very deep, massive 25km square and very hot nuclear dump. We demand that Mark KIrkbride’s appointment to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management is terminated. The Cumbrian Coal Mine and the Nuclear Dump Plan are clearly Hand in Hand while Mark Kirkbride Remains as Advisor to Government. This is the dark heart of cronyism and it must stop. We urgently ask that:

• Mark Kirkbride’s appointment to CoRWM is terminated
• the Cronyism between Mark Kirkbride’s Coal interests and the Nuclear dump plans are investigated by an Independent Inquiry.
• there should be a Moratorium on the Nuclear Dump (GDF) Plans
• Connections to Russian money investigated – WCM has been bankrolled by Owen Hegarty (now a Director of WCM) who has in turn overseen Siberian coal mine interests being bankrolled by the Russian State.

Mark Kirkbride – CoRWM https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/committee-on-radioactive-waste-management/about/our-governance Seismic Testing for a Nuclear Dump beneath the Irish Sea – Marine Life At Risk https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/06/22/the-uk-is-searching-the-sea-for-a-nuclear-dump-site-and-the-risks-to-marine-life-are-huge https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2022/06/19/extreme-torture/ “”We urge all those speaking against the mine at the public inquiry to give at least a mention to the fact that this coal mine would mine out voids faster than any previous coal mine in UK history and would induce earthquakes and cause subsidence in the Irish Sea and Sellafield area.” https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/cumbrian-coal-mine-geotech-experts-play-down-earthquake-claims-08-09-2021/ “Earlier this year, the first batch of waste was safely removed from one of the most hazardous sites at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site. “Perhaps they’re going to bury it down the pit,” says a resident with characteristic Cumbrian grit.”https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2022/12/09/uk-government-approves-first-coal-mine-in-30-years-in-cumbria/ British Geological Society signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nuclear Waste Services in June 2020 – another conflict of interest as the coal mine CEO advises Nuclear Waste Services in his Government advisory role with the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management – “The collaboration between both organisations is intended to support improved environmental outcomes relating to a UK geological disposal facility (GDF).”https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/british-geological-survey-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-radioactive-waste-management/#:~:text=BGS%20has%20today%20(24%20June,the%20UK’s%20geological%20disposal%20programme.

A Wildlife Walk on the Summer Solstice

Here are some photos from a walk this week along the cliff tops from St Bees to Whitehaven. What a privilege to see the wildlife including kittiwakes, guillemots, razorbills and herring gull chicks – with Stella the seal in the harbour. One of the photos is of the Saltom pit looking towards Whitehaven. The pit head sits on the ‘fairy rock’ and legend has it that most of fairy rock fell into the sea in the 1800s as an act of revenge by the fairies for the deep undersea mining.

Saltom Pit on Fairy Rock

Herring Gull chicks

Guillemots – this is the last breeding place in England of Black Guillemots

Kittiwake

St Bees

Razorbill

Whitehaven Harbour Runs Red with Mine Water Pollution While Coal Mine Boss Gloats About “Multimillion pound Funding” for New Deep Mine (coal – the nuclear dump next door- unless!)

Chris Packham was filming in Whitehaven today – I wonder if he mentioned any of this?

Sent today…

An Open Letter to the Coal Authority (an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero). and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)

Dear Coal Authority and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,

The first deep coal mine in the UK in 30 years announced on May 16th that “we have now successfully closed out a new multimillion pound funding package” What they fail to reveal is where the “multimillion pound” investment is coming from. The initial millions largely spent on public relations and investigative boreholes came from EMR Capital whose owner Owen Hegarty is now a director of West Cumbria Mining. Owen Hegarty also has coal mines in Siberia which have been bankrolled to the tune of tens of millions of pounds both by the Russian State and by Russian equity bank Baring Vostok whose investors have just left prison in Russia after fraud sentences. This all begs the question given the UK Government’s current war footing with Russia why hasn’t the Foreign Office stepped in to investigate West Cumbria Mining’s clear links with Russian State investment through Owen Hegarty?

West Cumbria Mining’s update also fails to mention that their conditional licence from the Coal Authority lapsed in October 2022. The Coal Authority have told us that they have not received a new licence application. The fact that the Coal Authority are even considering giving a new licence to drill to West Cumbria Mining is breathtaking given that the House of Lords called for a ban on any new licences being issued for coal mines. The Coal Authority is also now tasked with looking into the ongoing and seemingly unstoppable pollution pouring into Whitehaven harbour from historic mines which have been newly activated by disturbance. West Cumbria Mining’s extensive borehole and water flushing investigations above Whitehaven cannot be ruled out in part or in whole as a catalyst for Whitehaven Harbour running red with a toxic burden of metals and other pollutants. The honeycomb of mines in Whitehaven includes the Anhydrite mine which West Cumbria Mining wanted to dewater of its uranium, acids and metal contaminated water in order to use this as access to the sub-sea area off Whitehaven. The Environment Agency said this would be too dangerous to marine life. Another bizarre twist in the tale is that the coal mine CEO who wanted to dangerously dewater the old Anhydrite mine into the Irish Sea is also tasked (by the same government department who sponsor the Coal Authority) with advising Government on investigation techniques, construction and costings for a sub-sea nuclear dump euphemistically called a Geological Disposal Facility. This investigation includes seismic blasting of the Irish Sea which has already taken place over the heads of the public despite a petition of over 50,000 signatures.

We urge the Foreign Office to fully investigate West Cumbria Mining’s Russian connections through EMR Capital and Owen Hegarty.

We urge the Coal Authority to honour the House of Lords call for a ban on any new coal mine licences being issued in the UK. That an earthquake inducing new coal mine should have even been considered so close to Sellafield is utterly reckless with public safety – this could put climate concerns on the back foot.

We urge an inquiry into the dark cronyism surrounding the appointment of the CEO of West Cumbria Mining, Mark Kirkbride, to the position of Government advisor on Geological Disposal of High Level Nuclear Wastes, his coal mine lies between the nuclear dump target areas of Mid Copeland and Allerdale.

Yours sincerely

Marianne Birkby

Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole – a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign.

WCM May Updatehttps://www.westcumbriamining.com/wcm-website-news-update-may-2023/

Owen Hegarty new director of WCM https://www.extractiveindustries.co.uk/west-cumbria-mining-appoints-owen-hegarty-as-director/

Funder and now Director of WCM Owen Hegarty Bankrolled by Russian State and Baring Vostok https://www.smh.com.au/business/russians-take-a-large-slice-of-tigers-realm-coal-20140323-35bkq.html

Baring Vostok Fraud Sentences https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/03/24/baring-vostok-investors-leave-russia-after-fraud-sentences-expire-a80603

Calls by the House of Lords to ban any new licences being awarded to West Cumbria Mining.

https://www.mining-technology.com/news/house-of-lords-calls-for-ban-on-new-coal-mines/

Mark Kirbride Government Nuclear Dump advisor https://www.gov.uk/government/people/mark-kirkbridg

Petition

https://www.change.org/p/save-the-whale-and-the-snail-stop-nuclear-waste-services-blasting-the-irish-sea

Shhhh – don’t mention the Russian connection. We all hate Russia – Don’t we?

Russian Government has a large slice of West Cumbria Mining New Director’s Coal Pie.

Our government are ignoring calls for diplomatic negotiations with Russia to take precedent over increasingly dangerous (and lucrative) war games while endorsing developments with ties to the Russian government.  Makes no sense at all unless viewed through the business as usual at any cost lens.

Just a week after government approved the first deep coal mine in over 30 years in the UK,  a new director was appointed to West Cumbria Mining.

Owen Hegarty appointed to West Cumbria Mining on 16th December 2022 is no ordinary Director.  He is founder and Executive Chairman of EMR Capital, a private equity company who put up the £Millions to get West Cumbria Mining started.  

In December 2020 the headline in Financial Review boldly asserted “There’s never been a better time to mine coal in Siberia” “Mining industry veteran Owen Hegarty says his Siberian coking coal venture is poised to capitalise on China’s blacklisting of Australian coal, as it embarked on an exquisitely timed $43.5 million fundraising on Wednesday. ASX-listed Tigers Realm Coal has been mining on Russia’s Pacific coast for three years”  

So the new Director is an opportunist then – nothing wrong with that you might say.  

However this opportunist has no qualms about accepting money from governments.  In the case of Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal, the Russian government: “The certificates of residency in the ADZ provide Tigers Realm with valuable benefits that include looser regulation, tax breaks and the ability to receive financing from Russia’s sovereign fund.”  The Beringovsky Advanced Development Zone (ADZ) was created by Russian legislation to provide an attractive investment and administrative framework for investors and companies in the Russian Far East.  

Without the Russian government’s largesse Owen Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal venture would have collapsed as according to  Greenpeace’s Unearthed blog “A plan by a small Australian-listed coal company to build two massive mines in the Russian Arctic is teetering on collapse as local indigenous landowners voice their concerns, the coal price continues to crater and banks remain wary of funding the project.”  The article goes on to reveal that “Before Tigers Realm Coal arrived on the scene, indigenous landowners – heavily reliant on fishing salmon – had endured a long struggle before finally winning legal title to an area of land around the Amaam lagoon, right near the site of the proposed project.  The community, which actively opposed coal exploration in the region, was stunned when Tigers Realm kicked off its drilling programme in late 2010.  The movement of heavy equipment over the fragile tundra impacted the protection zone of Amaam Lagoon during the crucial sockeye salmon breeding season.”  

Amur Tiger (Siberian Tiger -wikipedia) food includes salmon which breed in the Amaam Lagoon.

In April 2014 Tigers Realm Coal received 36 million Australian dollars from the Russian private equity firm Baring Vostok Mining and 16 million Australian dollars from the Russian Government’s Russian Direct Investment Fund (£30M in total).  According to Unearthed, Tigers Realm Coal (Tigers Realm Minerals Group TIG)  have even bigger ambitions for mining in the Russian Far East.  

Owen Hegarty’s appointment as Director at West Cumbria Mining hot on the heels of Government approval for the first deep coal mine in 30 years in the UK has raised not one eyebrow amongst NGOs or the press.  This is despite the financial backing of WCM by Hegarty’s EMR Capital (largely from unknown sources) and the large slice of Russian ownership of Hegarty’s Tigers Realm Coal. The May 2022 AGM report for Tigers Realm Minerals Group (TIG) lists Owen Hegarty as “Independent Non-Executive Director” and “Founder of TIG”.

West Cumbria Mining have not yet found time to add Owen Hegarty to their “Meet the Team”  despite the illustrious new team member receiving the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in the June 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for service to the mining and minerals sector.

It does make you wonder about the Orwellian hate directed at Russia by our government on the one hand and approving a deep coal mine near Sellafield with Russian Government backed Director Owen Hegarty on the other.  

Also makes you wonder about the push for a deep nuclear dump for high level nuclear wastes, as the  government advisor for the nuclear dump is CEO of WCM Mark Kirkbride.  Kirkbride’s coal mine has been bankrolled by EMR Capital whose Russian government funded owner (to the tune of at least £30 Million)  is now an appointed Director of West Cumbria Mining.  

So much for national security – but hey we need the steel from Cumbrian coking coal to build Trident nuclear submarines to protect us all from evil Russia.  

Pull the other one its got bells on.

Fake News and Journalistic Irresponsibility

The Coal Mine is generating reams of copy in the press and much grandstanding by so many.

One comment by a reporter I spoke to back in 2018 caught my eye. Back in 2018 I described to the reporter the coal mine in all its glory – the carbon and methane emissions, the loss of ancient woodland and most importantly the proximity to Sellafield and the mine’s location under the radioactive wastes on the seabed ( we didn’t know then that the CEO of the coal mine was going to be employed as nuclear dump advisor to Govnt). This reporter was literally begged to actually report on the Cumbria coal mine. His reply to me was: “we shall circle round to the coal mine when the decision has been taken.” The Fake News is that the Nuclear aspects of this coal mine – the dangers and the cronyism are still being wilfully hidden from public view.

The reporter was then the Environment reporter for the Guardian. This is my reply to his tweet today

BBC still don’t want to hear about earthquakes, Sellafield or the coal boss’ advising government on nuclear waste dumping

As representative of the first group opposing the coal mine I was phoned up by Radio 5 Live last night to expect a call this morn at 7.35am to talk on their breakfast show.

The researcher wanted to know what I would be highlighting – I said we had already lobbied to have a traffic light system for earthquakes (brushed aside by the Planning Inspector as part of the conditions on the coal mine) and we would now push hard for that as coal produces more earthquakes than fracking.

Unlike fracking there is no traffic light system in place to halt coal operations should earthquakes occur and that this is especially important as the coal mine is just a few miles from Sellafield.

Also that the coal boss is the government’s nuclear dump advisor appointed to the Committee on Radioactive Waste management in 2019 to deliver a Geological Disposal Facility. This should make the Govnts approval of the coal mine null and void ethically (cronyism) and possibly legally- anyway -needless to say they havn’t rung up but have gone with the ‘safe pair of hands’ of Friends of the Earth who keep to the safe narrative of climate, steel and jobs.

I was also going to say that the coal mine would produce 400,000 tonnes of CO2 a year – this pales to the nuclear waste industry’s 1,046,950 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) a year – from the NDA “Using Greenhouse Gas Protocol methodology, the total NDA group carbon footprint for 2019/20 is 1,046,950 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)” and the coal boss has been appointed to advise that industry!

The researcher said he didn’t know about all that and agreed it was scandalous – the BBC obviously still don’t want to expose the full truth about the coal mine which is great for our nuclear obsessed govnt..

Cumbria Coal Mine Awarded Fresh Licence to Drill by the Coal Authority

Offshore area no 2 is the Licence area nearest Sellafield

As can be seen from this Coal Authority image – area number 2 has very little known coal resource (blue hatch) – nevertheless the Coal Authority has just awarded West Cumbria Mining a new licence for this area which adjoins the area under consideration for a Geological Disposal Facility. Coal boss Mark Kirkbride is an “invaluable” member of the government body (CoRWM) advising on nuclear waste. His role is largely to advise on the highly mechanised digging of holes as deep as Scafell is high. We continue to urge individuals and groups opposing the coal mine to look at the bigger picture rather than focussing narrowly on climate, jobs and coking coal. To ignore the big picture (Nuclear!!) does the planet no favours. The mine can still be stopped – we will keep you posted.

the following has been sent to press…

Over the Easter period, the Coal Authority  quietly awarded the controversial Cumbrian Coal Mine new “conditional” licences.  The developer West Cumbria Mining’s original conditional licences granted in 2013 were valid for 8 years.  W.C.M  applied for a variation to their original conditional licences in January 2021.  The new applications were approved on April 13th 2022.

Nuclear safety group Radiation Free Lakeland who run the Keep Cumbrian Coal in the Hole campaign have lobbied tirelessly for details of the new licence applications to be released to public view.  Despite extensive correspondence between the group and the Coal Authority including an intervention by MP Tim Farron and an internal review,  all details of the licences were refused public scrutiny claiming ‘commercial sensitivity.’  Campaigners say that what can be seen is that one of the new licences awarded includes Offshore Area 2, an area of the Irish Sea Marine Conservation Zone off St Bees.  The nuclear safety group say that “according to the British Geological Survey most of this area offshore of St Bees and extending towards Sellafield has no known coal reserves”  They go on to say that “the awarding of coal licences to the developer ahead of the decision by the Secretary of State, Michael Gove suggests that the Inspector has recommended approval and smacks of the most blatant cronyism”. 

The group point out the close relationships between the former Coal Authority Director Stephen Dingle who appointed  Sir Nigel Thrift to Chair of the Committee of Radioactive Waste Management, and coal boss Mark KIrkbride, described by Sir Nigel Thrift as an “invaluable”  colleague on the Committee tasked with advising government on what to do with the UK’s growing nuclear waste problem.  

Marianne Birkby founder of Radiation Free Lakeland said: “there is only one thing worse than opening a new coal mine and that is opening a new coal mine near Sellafield whose boss is advising the government on the digging of big holes for heat generating nuclear wastes”

Licence to Drill Awarded to Cumbria Coal Mine     https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coal-mining-licence-applications/coal-mining-licence-applications

Map of Offshore Area No 2   https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/cy/request/267022/response/663418/attach/9/UND0184%20Register%20details.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

Block New Coal Licences for Cumbria https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/petition-block-new-coal-licences-for-cumbria/

PETITION delivered to the Coal Authority

Coal Mine developers, West Cumbria Mining have asked the *Coal Authority for new licences.   Do Not Rubber Stamp the Developer’s Licence to Drill.

*The Coal Authority report to the Dept of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.  Kwasi Kwarteng MP is the Secretary of State

BLOCK WEST CUMBRIA MINING’S LICENCE TO DRILL

Leading Cumbrian Councillors had already reassessed their previous unanimous support for the first deep coal mine in decades in the UK and voted “No.”  Through this No vote they have voiced their opposition alongside leading academics, scientists,  politicians, the public and many organisations.  

The reasons for saying No to new licences for West Cumbria Mining are not just “compelling” as Secretary of State Kwasi Kwarteng MP has stated, they are overwhelming.  

There is zero need for a public inquiry at the expense of the public purse. The mine could be stopped tomorrow.  All it would take is for the Coal Authority to block the developers new applications for a Licence to Drill.  It is shocking that details of the new licence applications are being kept secret and from public scrutiny despite Freedom of Information requests from nuclear safety group Radiation Free Lakeland.

CLIMATE AND NUCLEAR SAFETY …OR RECKLESSNESS?

A block on the developer’s new applications for a Licence to Drill would not only save the public purse the huge expense of a public inquiry it would also send a strong message to the UK and our international neighbours that the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who are responsible for the Coal Authority, are committed to both climate and nuclear safety.  

While the significant climate impacts of this coal mine would be EXACTLY the same if this development had been proposed anywhere else in the UK, this coal mine is NOT JUST ANYWHERE in the UK.  The mine would be largely subsea off the West Coast of Cumbria, would extend to within five miles of the WORLD”S RISKIEST NUCLEAR WASTE SITE and be directly under a massive nuclear waste dump known as the Sellafield Mud Patch.  

COAL MINE UNDER AN EXISTING NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP?

Sellafield has been pumping eight million litres of  “low level” radioactive discharges into the Irish Sea every day. It been doing that for decades and nuclear wastes (military and ‘civil’) still continue to arrive in West Cumbria.  The nuclear waste discharge pipeline out to the Irish Sea is in constant use.  The coal mine developers say there would be “EXPECTED SUBSIDENCE” of the Irish Sea bed.   Recent reports have indicated this would most likely result in the resuspension of decades worth of Sellafield’s radioactive wastes now largely (but not completely) immobilised in the Irish Sea bed.  Radioactive wastes including plutonium would be resuspended back into the water column, to ours and to neighbouring shores.  The one thing not to do with a radioactive waste dump is disturb it.

COAL MINE ADJACENT TO A NEW HIGH LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP?

The mine itself would be adjacent to the area being promoted as a “possible” Geological Disposal Facility for heat generating nuclear wastes under the Irish Sea.  The CEO of the coal mine Mark Kirkbride has been appointed to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to advise government on “Delivery” of a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF).  The proposed coal mine  would make a void of 136 million square metres. Would this handy hole be used to dump mountains of rock spoil excavated for a GDF from neighboring rocks?   What destabilising impact would this have on the neighbouring rocks?   Is there a massive unresolvable conflict of interest at the heart of the forthcoming coal mine public inquiry?  The final decision about the climate and nuclear dump-wrecking mine will rest with the government – the same government who have appointed the coal mine boss to position of top government nuclear dump advisor (for highly active wastes).  

FARCICAL PUBLIC INQUIRY?

These questions (and more) should, but are not likely to be within the remit of a forthcoming public inquiry focussing on planning rather than key issues of governance and nuclear safety.  

PUBLIC MONEY

The public have already paid out £millions for this coal mine, to be precise,  £2.5 Million in Heritage Lottery Funds for the Haig Colliery Museum which was then handed over to the developers for £1.  

This is a coal mine that the public would keep paying for in more than money and climate impacts – the many headed hydra of both a slow burn and immediate nuclear catastrophe are overwhelming.  

There is no credible case for this mine either on the basis of finance (no market), climate (flies in face of COP26) or arguably the most serious concern, nuclear safety (under decades of nuclear waste, undermining the geology near the world’s riskiest nuclear waste site Sellafield).

BLOCK WEST CUMBRIA MINING’S LICENCE TO DRILL!

DO IT NOW

References

BEIS Ministerial Responsibility for the Coal Authority, BEIS also responsible for the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management where coal boss Mark Kirkbride is a key member.

“Ministerial responsibility 11. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is accountable to Parliament for the activities and performance of the Authority and it is proposed that any new Minister with responsibility for the Authority will carry out a visit to the Authority within six months of taking up appointment to learn about the role of the Authority and its functions. Typically, we would expect the chair and chief executive to meet with the minister at least annually. 12. Specific responsibilities include:  approving the Authority’s overall strategic objectives and the policy and performance frameworkwithin which the Authority operates (as set out in this framework document and associated documents  keeping Parliament informed about the Authority’s performance  approving the amount of grant-in-aid/grant/other funds to be paid to the Authority, and securing Parliamentary approval  carrying out responsibilities specified in the Act including appointments to the board, determining the terms and conditions of board members, consenting to the appointment of the, approval of terms and conditions of staff (Including pay) in accordance with the latest pay guidance  laying of the annual report and accounts before Parliament”

Click to access Coal_Authority_and_BEIS_framework_agreement_2019.pdf

Sellafield Radioactive Discharge on the Irish Sea Bed directly beneath the coal mine plan and question of ‘Who is Responsible for Safety of the Discharged Nuclear Wastes?’  is subject to complaint being dealt with by the Information Commissioner

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/responsibility_for_discharged_ra

Coal Authority Licences https://keepcumbriancoalinthehole.wordpress.com/2021/01/18/do-not-rubber-stamp-new-coal-authority-licenses-for-cumbria/

6th Climate Budget   https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/sixth-carbon-budget/     note the Climate Change Committee is appointed by BEIS

British Geological Society Lack of Testing in West Cumbria https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/west_cumbria_mining_abstraction#incoming-1625582

British Geological Society Lack of Testing in Bangladesh https://www.iwapublishing.com/news/arsenic-contamination-groundwater-bangladesh-environmental-and-social-disaster

Who is Responsible for Radioactive Waste on the Irish Sea Bed – Call from Nuclear Free Local Authorities NFLA troubled by the UK Communities Minister not ‘calling in’ the decision over a deep underground coal mine in West Cumbria

Haig Colliery and Mining Museum

Return of final meeting in a creditors’ voluntary winding up https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/04914614/filing-history

West Cumbria Mining’s documents detailing how assets worth £millions bought for £1would be protected from creditors

24 Nov 2020 Registration of charge 071433980002, the document can be found here  https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07143398/filing-history

The steel industry will soon have little use for Cumbrian coal

https://www.businessgreen.com/opinion/4027666/steel-industry-soon-little-cumbrian-coal

Coal Mine to be Recommended for Approval Tomorrow?

We have heard on the grapevine that the Planning Inspector Stephen Normington will announce his recommendation on the Cumbria Coal Mine plan tomorrow – the same day as the Energy Security Strategy is to be announced.

The following are some personal thoughts….

The timing suggests that the Planning Inspector will recommend approval – its always a good day to bury bad news in the midst of a whole raft of bad news. We hope beyond hope that the Planning Inspector will recommend refusal…but given the governmental push for new nuclear and the fact that the CEO of the Coal Mine is a key advisor on the (pro-nuclear government’s) ‘necessity’ of putting nuclear waste “away,” we suspect the former.

Approval of the coal mine would help the government push through on its nuclear plans as the condemnation regarding the coal mine would include the ire of well known talking heads both nationally and internationally and that ire would enjoy blanket media coverage (unlike the ire against nuclear). Similarly with the recent announcement that fracking might not be dead and buried. The campaign agenda for activists and the public can easily be coralled narrowly into coal and fracking with celebrities and headlines – leaving the campaigners fighting to end the poisoning of the populace and the planet, from nuclear, in a very hard place.

It is heart breaking that mainstream NGOs have comprehensively ignored the nuclear aspects of this coal mine, its close proximity to Sellafield, its location under the radioactively contaminated Cumbrian Mud Patch and the appointment of the coal boss and his head of operations to the nuclear waste plans. The public have been steered away from the cold hard truth about this coal mine and it has done no-one apart from the nuclear industry and our pro-nuclear government any favours. If that sounds bitter it isn’t – it is beyond bitterness.

Here’s hoping that the Inspector recommends refusal.

Decades of Sellafield’s Reprocessing Waste On Irish Sea Bed Would be Churned Up by Coal Mine Subsidence

A great article by Paul Brown below – there is however a big elephant in the room regarding this story. The elephant in the room is the Cumbrian Mud Patch – the radioactive silts on the Irish Sea bed resulting from decades of reprocessing. The coal mine due to be decided upon soon by Government (after Planning Inspector Stephen Normington makes his recommendation) would churn up this nuclear crapola on the seabed. A tsunami of radioactive wastes now largely inert (apart from tidal processes) would be resuspended in the water column – returning to the shores and to the rest of the world. It takes only 4 years for Sellafield’s seaborne waste to reach the Arctic. The coal mine would cause subsidence and resulting resuspension of nuclear wastes. The coal mine would cause earthquakes. Both these outcomes are not “likely” they are certain. The coal mine CEO is also employed by government as advisor on the plans for a deep (and not so deep) nuclear dump for heat generating nuclear wastes – you couldn’t make it up.

February 10, 2022

The Legacy of Britain’s Dirty Decades of Nuclear Reprocessing: 120 Tonnes of Plutonium

by Paul Brown

Sellafield nuclear plant. Photo by Dafydd Waters/Creative Commons.

Seventy years after the United Kingdom first began extracting plutonium from spent uranium fuel to make nuclear weapons, the industry is finally calling a halt to reprocessing, leaving the country with 120 tons of the metal, the biggest stockpile in the world. However, the government has no idea what to do with it.

Having spent hundreds of billions of pounds producing plutonium in a series of plants at Sellafield in the Lake District, the UK policy is to store it indefinitely—or until it can come up with a better idea. There is also 90,000 tons of less dangerous depleted uranium in warehouses in the UK, also without an end use.

Plans to use plutonium in fast breeder reactors and then mixed with uranium as a fuel for existing fission reactors have long ago been abandoned as too expensive, unworkable, or sometimes both. Even burning plutonium as a fuel, while technically possible, is very costly.

The closing of the last reprocessing plant, as with all nuclear endeavours, does not mean the end of the industry, in fact it will take at least another century to dismantle the many buildings and clean up the waste. In the meantime, it is costing £3 billion a year to keep the site safe.

Perhaps one of the strangest aspects of this story to outside observers is that, apart from a minority of anti-nuclear campaigners, this plutonium factory in one of prettiest parts of England hardly ever gets discussed or mentioned by the UK’s two main political parties. Neither has ever objected to what seems on paper to be a colossal waste of money.

The secret of this silence is that the parliamentary seats in the Lake District are all politically on a knife-edge. No candidate for either Conservative or Labour can afford to be anti-nuclear, otherwise the seat would certainly go to the opposition party.

The story of Sellafield matters, however, particularly to countries like Japan, which is poised to open its own reprocessing works at Rokkasho, Aomori in September. Strangely, too, this is one of Japan’s most scenic areas.

This plan is particularly controversial in a country that is the only one so far to have had nuclear bombs used against it. Like Britain, Japan has no obvious outlet for the plutonium it will produce, except nuclear weapons and fast breeder reactors, this last a technology Japan has already tried and has ended in failure. It also seems unnecessary because Japan already owns a plutonium stockpile of several tonnes from sending spent fuel to the UK to be reprocessed.

While there is much more opposition in Japan, including from the influential New Diplomacy Initiative, there is local support for the works because politicians see employment opportunities. But there is also international concern about the potential spread of nuclear weapon capability to Japan and beyond.

In Britain, reprocessing began in 1952 entirely as a military endeavour. The idea was to make hydrogen bombs so Britain could keep up with the United States and Russia in the nuclear arms race.

A much larger plant opened in 1964, and it is this one that is finally due to close this year. It had a nominal capacity to reprocess 1,500 tonnes of spent fuel a year for both military and civilian purposes. It reprocessed fuel from the UK’s 26 Magnox, Italy’s Latina, and Japan’s Tokai Magnox nuclear reactors. It has reprocessed 45,000 tonnes so far and has 318 more to go.

From its inception, the reprocessing works was a highly polluting plant, discharging contaminated water into the Irish Sea. Plutonium, cesium, and other radionuclides were sent out to sea in a mile-long pipeline. Radioactivity was picked up in shellfish in Ireland, Norway, and Denmark, and in local seafood that had to be tested regularly to see if the radioactive load they carried made them too dangerous to eat. Local people were advised to keep their consumption of shellfish low. These discharges have now been considerably cleaned up.

A third “recycling” project, the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP), was planned in 1977, expected to capitalize on the then projected expansion of nuclear power and to provide plutonium and uranium for newer reactors, and for the still-hoped-for fast breeder reactor programme. Government approval was given nine years later, by which time contracts for reprocessing had been made with a number of foreign companies. The new plant’s biggest customer was Japan.

So in the end, reprocessing became a commercial venture rather than producing anything useful. Nine countries sent spent fuel to Sellafield to have plutonium and uranium extracted for reuse and paid a great deal of money to do so. In reality, very little of either metal has ever been used because mixed oxide fuels were too expensive, and fast breeder reactors could never be scaled up sufficiently to be economic.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the UK government body now charged with keeping Sellafield safe and ultimately dismantling it, still makes £820 million (US$1.16 billion) a year storing spent fuel, plutonium, uranium, and nuclear waste for foreign governments and the UK’s Ministry of Defence. This latter waste includes the radioactive material from powering nuclear submarines and manufacturing bombs and warheads. The rest of the £3.345 billion (US$4.570) budget comes from the UK taxpayer.

In its current plan, the NDA hopes to have disposed of all spent fuel by 2125—103 years hence. All buildings will be demolished or reused by 2133.

Although these targets seem a long way off, some of the interim ones are already unlikely. The documents say the NDA hopes to establish a deep depository for high-level waste by 2040—but the UK government has been looking for a site since 1980, and every one “found” has so far been rejected. It has just started the search all over again, offering lots of financial incentives to local communities to consider the idea.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain—most of the 11,000 people currently employed at Sellafield will still have jobs for decades to come.

This article first appeared on The Energy Mix and is available for republication through the commons.