N-Base Briefing 453


N-Base Briefing 453
7th May 2005

ISSN 1478-4661

Fuel flight

A shipment of unirradiated nuclear fuel was flown from Wick airport to Germany this week. The fuel from Dounreay was loaded onto an aircraft operated by Faroese-owned Atlantic Airways.

Cumbrian connections

The Caithness members of Highland Council have agreed to accept an invitation from Cumbria County Council to visit the area and discuss common concerns about decommissioning.

Stop Drigg plan

Nuclear Free Local Authorities in Scotland have published its appeal to Scottish ministers to stop the UKAEA's plans to send low level waste to Drigg. All Dounreay's waste should be managed on the site, NFLA has told environment minister Ross Finnie, calling for a public inquiry into the plan and adding that the proposal may be illegal without an environmental impact assessment.

Secrecy worries

New security guidelines will stop local authorities and the public getting information about new nuclear powers stations, waste stores and other proposals. The Office for Civil Nuclear Security, part of the DTI, has drawn up the new rules under which the attorney general would select an 'appointed representative' to put the case for objectors at planning inquiries - neither the objectors themselves or planning officials would not have access to information about the proposals.

The Scottish Executive is also reported to be considering new planning laws. If a proposal, like a new reactor or waste dump, was classified as a nationally important project by the Scottish Parliament then a public inquiry could not question important issues such as the need for the proposal, safety etc.

Final filter

The UKAEA has announced that the new 'final filter' on its liquid waste discharge system has now been fitted and will be commissioned in the near future. Dounreay is been the only nuclear site in Scotland without a final filter and it was fitted after orders from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Contract concerns

The trades union Prospect has raised concerns about the tendering process for contracts to operate the UK's nuclear sites that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is due to issue within three years. The union says it has worries about the safety of reducing the timetable of decommissioning work.

Dunnet report

The full report on monitoring of the Dunnet Head beach east of Dounreay is available at www.ukaea.org.uk/dounreay/pdf/Dunnet_summary_Apr05.pdf

Work starts

Work started this week on repairing the Head-End of the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield where a leak of radioactive liquid shut the plant last month.

Siberia dump

There are increasing concerns about proposals to build an international nuclear waste dump in Siberia. Russia is understood to be keen on the idea because of the large amounts of foreign currency the work would earn.

Greenpeace report

Greenpeace has issued a new report on the hazards of the different reactor designs in use around the world. The report is available at www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/nuclearreactorhazards