Lakeland Tales - Potter re-written....

A retelling of Beatrix Potter’s Lakeland tales with a distinctly anti nuclear theme are being created to mark the dubiously named ‘Managing Radioactive Waste Safely ‘Drop In’ meetings taking place in Lakeland towns and villages over the next two weeks.

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The Partnership has been set up to: implement geological disposal of high level nuclear waste in Cumbria. At the Millom ‘Drop in’ on the 19th November, a Radiation Free Lakeland artist, produced a painting based on the Squirrel Nutkin tale – but in this case the ‘Nutkins’ are paddling not on rafts made of twigs but on a never ending stream of nuclear waste barrels. 

At Barrow on the 20th November the painting produced is a retelling of the tale of Mrs Tiggywinkle who washes clothes at a “spring, bubbling out from the hill-side”. The twist in the new tale is that this is Mrs Tiggywinkle’s descendent ‘Tig’ and she is washing Pete’s smalls in the spring – but a cut away of the hillside reveals barrels of nuclear waste in the same water bubbling out of the hill.

Leaflets are also being handed out by Radiation Free Lakeland which remind people of the Nirex Inquiry Inspector’s findings following £400M of research into the geology of West Cumbria. In a letter to the Guardian Chris McDonald the lead inspector says: “…. The site should be in a region of low groundwater flow, and the geology should be readily characterisable and predictable, whereas the rocks there (the Lake District) are actually of a complex volcanic nature, with significant faulting. Also, the industry was relying on an overlying layer of sedimentary strata to dilute and disperse any groundwater leakage, when the international criteria require such a layer to act instead as a barrier. ..The site is not suitable and investigations should be moved elsewhere.”

Leaflet Handed out at Meetings…..

Say NO to Geological Disposal in Cumbria

The Nirex Inquiry Inspector Ruled “Cumbriais not suitable” …..this followed £400M of evidence based research.

MRWS Partnership = Con Trick

Letter to The Guardian, Thursday 28 June 2007

As the lead inspector (now retired) of the 1995-96 public inquiry into the proposed nuclear waste facility in west Cumbria, I was concerned by a couple of points in your piece on the new site search (Report, June 26). The relevant geology in west Cumbria is apparently now claimed to be "stable, although imperfect". But 10 years ago the nuclear industry had not found a way of maintaining the stability of that geology when physically exploring the underground site. …. The site should be in a region of low groundwater flow, and the geology should be readily characterisable and predictable, whereas the rocks there are actually of a complex volcanic nature, with significant faulting. Also, the industry was relying on an overlying layer of sedimentary strata to dilute and disperse any groundwater leakage, when the international criteria require such a layer to act instead as a barrier. The comprehensive assessment that reports the deficiencies in detail is available on the internet (jpb.co.uk/nirexinquiry/nirex.htm). The site is not suitable and investigations should be moved elsewhere. The site selection process was flawed, not treating safety as the most important factor, and irrationally affected by a strong desire to locate close to Sellafield. A final point - the sketch design for the repository has not been newly revealed. It was submitted to the 1995-96 inquiry, and has subsequently been discussed in technical journals.

Lead Inspector Nirex Inquiry - Chris McDonald

Links:

Lead Inspector - Letter to The Guardian

Radiation Free Lakeland

Contact email: rafl@mariannebirkby.plus.com