PARIS (Reuters) – French police launched a surprise operation at dawn on Thursday to evict protesters from a site earmarked for storage of nuclear waste in the Bure area of eastern France. The interior ministry announced the evacuation after it was underway, with scores of police in body armour moving in before daylight to evict activists occupying the zone, backed up by an earthmover. The plan to store long-life nuclear waste 500 metres below ground in impermeable clay has not yet got government approval and is strongly opposed by local groups and environmentalists. President Emmanuel Macron’s government is keen to prevent a proliferation of such protester-occupation movements following one that lasted year at a site earmarked for a new airport near Nantes in the west of France – a building plan it dropped last month. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Brian Love) … [Read more...] about French police clear nuclear waste protest site in pre-dawn swoop
Nuclear waste
Letter: Nuclear waste on roads?
Five years ago today Cumbria County Council, representing several Lake District and coastal communities, blocked Government attempts to develop a subterranean geologic repository for long-lived radioactive waste. Last week the Government launched the latest attempts by ministers to resurrect this process, with a new 897 page public consultation, Working with communities: implementing geological disposal.(www.gov.uk/government/consultations/working-with-communities-implementing-geological-disposal) Ministers have now decided backing “communities” with significant multi-million pound financial incentives or compensation is the new approach. In the consultation document, local MP and energy minister Richard Harrington wrote: “We believe the best way to select a site for a geological disposal facility is in partnership with communities.” He adds “Building and operating a geological disposal facility is a multi-billion pound, intergenerational, national … [Read more...] about Letter: Nuclear waste on roads?
New attempt to find a site for nuclear waste disposal
A fresh search for an area to site a £12 billion underground nuclear waste facility is being launched by the Government, with the offer of a "community fund" while tests go ahead. The last effort was rejected by Cumbria County Council in 2013, but local residents will be given more of a say this time, with the possibility of a referendum as a test of public support. Building a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) will create up to 2,000 jobs and bring in at least £8 billion to the UK economy, according to the Government. The facility would be built at least 200 metres underground, made up of layers of steel, rock and clay to provide protection while some of the waste remains radioactive. Waste is currently stored at 30 sites, including Sellafield in Cumbria, with estimates that a new facility would store 750,000 cubic metres of waste - enough to fill three quarters of Wembley stadium. Energy Minister Richard Harrington said: "We owe it to future generations to take action now … [Read more...] about New attempt to find a site for nuclear waste disposal
New bid to find UK site for nuclear waste disposal
A fresh search for an area to site a £12 billion underground nuclear waste facility is being launched by the Government, with the offer of a “community fund” while tests go ahead. The last effort was rejected by Cumbria County Council in 2013, but local residents will be given more of a say this time, with the possibility of a referendum as a test of public support. Building a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) will create up to 2,000 jobs and bring in at least £8 billion to the UK economy, according to the Government. Loading article content The facility would be built at least 200 metres underground, made up of layers of steel, rock and clay to provide protection while some of the waste remains radioactive. Waste is currently stored at 30 sites, including Sellafield in Cumbria, with estimates that a new facility would store 750,000 cubic metres of waste – enough to fill three quarters of Wembley stadium. Energy Minister Richard Harrington said: … [Read more...] about New bid to find UK site for nuclear waste disposal
A nationwide search is on for UK’s £12bn nuclear waste dump
Coming to a patch of earth near you: the nuclear waste dump Britain desperately needs to realise its atomic energy ambitions. The government is searching for a suitable place to construct a £12bn ($17bn) underground radioactive storage container, The Guardian reports. The project could create more than 1,500 jobs and give a major boost to any rural economy – yet finding a community willing to host the geological disposal facility (GDF) will not be an easy task. Today, most of the UK's nuclear waste is stored at ground level in Sellafield, Cumbria. But with a new power plant being built in Somerset, and four others proposed, the government urgently needs to find a long-term solution to the problem of radioactive waste disposal. Finland and other nuclear power nations have already begun building GDFs, which see waste mixed with resin, packed into steel containers and placed hundreds of metres underground. The tomb is then covered in concrete and anti-radiation materials … [Read more...] about A nationwide search is on for UK’s £12bn nuclear waste dump