N-BASE BRIEFING 135 - - - - - - 13th June 1998
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135.1 New revelations as Dounreay circus continues
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The past week has seen continued international focus on Dounreay
with a series of new disclosures including the fact UK
government minister were not told that a total of 14kgs of
fuel was imported from Georgia - not 5kgs as Minister, and
Dounreay, originally announced. The government has also
admitted that more fuel from the former Soviet Union may
be taken to Dounreay for reprocessing.
Until last week it had been assumed that 4.2kg of
unirradiated highly-enriched uranium and 0.8kg of irradiated
HEU fuel had been imported to Dounreay from Georgia in April.
This was the amount given by Government ministers, Dounreay,
and the amount discussed in a House of Commons debate.
However, the Herald newspaper revealed last week that in
fact the shipment was nearly three times bigger - an
additional 9kgs of low-enriched uranium had been transported
from Georgia to Dounreay in the same shipment. Dounreay
said this had not been any secret - no-one had asked
them about low-enriched fuel, only HEU fuel. It also
emerged that while Dounreay operators, UKAEA and government
officials knew in March that the total shipment would
be 14kgs - Ministers, including Scottish Secretary of
State Donald Dewar was only told a week ago after the
Herald's enquires. While the Government's justification
for importing the fuel from Georgia was a security and
proliferation risk involving weapons-grade HEU, weapons
cannot be made out of low-enriched uranium.
There was even further confusion when Energy Minister John
Battle told the House of Commons that the Government may
consider importing more nuclear waste from the former Soviet
Union for reprocessing at Dounreay. It would be looked at
on a "case by case" basis. This announcement caused anger
among opposition MPs as it was made only days after Mr
Battle announced an end to commercial reprocessing at
Dounreay - only the fuel already on-site would be reprocessed
he said only four days earlier.
The government decision to spend an estimated GBP40 million
to repair and upgrade the reprocessing plant at Dounreay so
work can re-start on dealing with the remaining 15 tonnes of
fast reactor fuel is likely to be raised at preparatory
meetings for the OSPAR convention's ministerial meeting in
Lisbon next month. Nordic government will urge the UK not
to re-open the plant and to halt all reprocessing at Dounreay.
Ministers statements wrong
Mr Battle and Mr Dewar have both insisted that reprocessing
the fast reactor spent fuel at Dounreay is a technical and
safety necessity - an integral part of decommissioning
the site. However publicly available reports from both
the UKAEA and the Department of Trade and Industry show
clearly this is wrong. Either the government Ministers
have been badly briefed by officials or they have chosen
to make misleading decisions to try and justify they
decisions.
In making the announcement about Dounreay on Friday 5th June,
Mr Battle said: "...I must emphasise that reprocessing is a
necessary part of the decommissioning process and of securing
the site for the future." Speaking on BBC television the
same day Mr Dewar said about the decision to reprocessing
the fast reactor fuel: "...the Government has a whole range
of advisory bodies who have responsibility for nuclear safety.
Dry storage is an option in certain circumstances but we're
dealing here with fast breeder fuel, with fast breeder
waste, and the advice we're getting - I must say from right
across the range - is that a form of reprocessing is
necessary and this is the best way."
However the UKAEA produced a report in September 1995 titled
"PFR fuel Management Options Issue 1" and this was given
to the DTI and formed part of the argument supporting the
decision to spend money reprocess the fuel at Dounreay.
Also the reports from the UKAEA presented to the Scottish
Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to support its application
for new waste discharge authorisations for Dounreay
contained the same options for the fast reactor fuel.
The options for the fuel in all these reports were:
reprocessing at Dounreay, at Sellafield, at Cap la Hague
in France, in Russia or Japan; storage in the PFR buffer
store (whether the fuel already is stored), using alternative
UKAEA stores, using a new dry store, or storing the fuel
in special casks.
The reports detailed each option and the various problems
associated with each alternative and concluded that
reprocessing at Dounreay was technically and economically
the preferred option.
135.2 Other Dounreay News
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Australians consider new options
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
has said the halt to any new commercial reprocessing contracts
at Dounreay will not cause problems at its Lucas Heights
reactor. ANSTO had been hoping to sign a second contract to
reprocess about 1,300 spent fuel elements at Dounreay to solve
a storage problem it has at the reactor. ANSTO spokesmen said
they would look to reprocessing elsewhere in Europe -
presumably at Cap La Hague where other research reactor
operators have also agreed to reprocess fuel
Atkins doing well out of Dounreay
The commercial company which manages the reprocessing and
other waste plants at Dounreay has seen its profits increase
by 14 per cent to over GBP30 million. WS Atkins also has
other contract on the site, including one to decommission the
DFR reactor.
135.3 News in Brief
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Huge Aldermaston compensation costs for MoD
The Ministry of Defence has lost an appeal against a court
ruling that it should pay compensation for causing radioactive
pollution of land next to the Atomic Weapons Establishment at
Aldermaston. Radioactive waste tanks and ponds on the AWE
site overflowed during a storm in 1989 and caused serious
pollution of adjacent land belonging to Blue Circle plc.
The high levels of plutonium and uranium were not discovered
by the company until 1993 and a proposed sale of the 137
acre estate, including offices, hotel and conference centre,
was abandoned. Blue Circle was awarded GBP6 million in
damages at an earlier court hearing and the Appeal Court
dismissed the Ministry of Defence appeal and not only upheld
the original compensation - but increased it by a further
GBP600,000.
Contaminated soil removed
British Nuclear fuel has begun removing soil from the grounds
of a house in Seascale which was contaminated with high
levels of radiation by pigeons which lived in and around
the Sellafield nuclear complex. Workers are removing soil
down to a depth of 30-60cms in places. An estimated 200 tonnes
of contaminated soil is being removed to the Drigg
low-level waste dump.
Leak admitted
British Nuclear Fuels has admitted that there was a leak of
coolant water from the high-level waste tanks at Sellafield in
May. The high-level waste tanks been constant cooling
to remain safe.
MPs re-open nuclear debate
An influential committee of MPs has re-opened the question of
whether any new nuclear power stations either are needed in the
UK or whether any should be built. The trade and industry
select committee of the House of Commons calls on the Government
to clarify its energy policy. It argues that the reasons for
subsidising the coal industry could also be applied to nuclear
power generation. The select committee says new nuclear power
stations may be needed during the next two decades.
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