Category: Nukiller Power

Looking To Find A Nukiller Waste Train.

Many towns in Britain have nukiller waste passing through them via the railways.

Finding out just when they go through any town has been a very time consuming and costly process – up until now.

One way of finding out has been by purchasing a copy of Freightmaster.

Now you can look up some of the same information via Realtime Trains.

This is a really useful online resource, especially as it gives an exact set of times and towns which these trains go through.

If your uncertain as to which ones to look at on your search,
then they will code as ZZ ,
and are run by DRS ( Direct Rail Services ).

New Guards At Springfields.

Here is a news story about one of the key plants in the nukiller fuel cycle.

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) are about to be withdraw from the Springfields site at Salwick near Preston.

The plant is one in which nukiller fuel rods and other key reactor items are assembled.

What is not so clear at present is just who will provide ‘security’ at the plant once the CNC have been withdrawn.

Will it be the local constabulary ?
or
A private company like G4S ?

Only time will tell.

A Little Long Term Thinking

Problems Solved.

I keep hearing people being very pessimistic about our future
prospects due to climate change,
and yet there are still many things which we can all do in order to
stop this ecological disaster from completely destroying us all.

Yet it’s not so long ago that we all faced other ecological
problems which are no longer with us.

– We no longer have cadmium used in plastic toys.

– Tin soldiers are a thing of the past.

– A ‘Pea Souper’ is now just an historical expression.

– Drums of low lever nukiller waste are no longer dumped in to the Atlantic.

– We no longer build our homes with cancer causing asbestos.

– There is now an international ban on the use of  PCBs
[ polychlorinated biphenyl ].

&

– We no longer discharge untreated sewage in to many rivers throughout the world.

Problems Still To Be Solved.

That’s a good record so far, but we still have a lot more to do.

Though the task list might be a short one it could we a while
before we complete these tasks: –

– Reafforestation.

– Stopping over population.

– No longer using climate changing fuels.

&

– Closing  down the Nukiller power industry.

Yet it is the longer term which we really do need to be thinking about.

Starting with the decades and still working on the same issues for centuries to come.

One of the major problems with Nukiller power is that it takes
many decades to decommission these plants.

The current and future problem being that it will take between
100 & 120 years before all the existing fuel rods are cool enough
to move. That’s not my line, but what we have been told by those
who run these plants.

Then all the highly radioactive & chemically complex waste will
need to be stored: –

– Not just centuries, but many thousands of years to come.

So far there have been many ideas put forward about how to deal with this waste,
but no realistic solutions are in sight.

27013

If dealing with this waste was ever to be added to the electricity
fuel bill which we all pay for,
then it would equate to a life after life mortgage for many many
generations to come.

It would be like asking the average taxpayer to contribute to the
building of the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, Stone Henge,
Wells Cathedral, and for that debt to continue until the year 27013.

The year 27013 being based upon the half life of plutonium,
but of course it will still be very dangerous for a lot longer than that.

Now this is were the really scary issue kicks in.

Most current anti-nukiller campaigning centres around stopping new plants being built,
and the current ones closed down.

Yet that is just the start of our long term problems.

We need to be thinking and campaigning upon just what will happen to these plants in the long term.

That is why we will need to all think about a 120 year anti-nukiller campaigning strategy,
and we need to do it now.

Though there are still a lot more nukiller ‘accidents’ waiting to happen.

While we still have the continuing disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima to resolve.

There are very few people who are capable of doing any long term thinking,
never mind thinking in to centuries to come,
yet that is just what we all need to start doing right now.

A Few Words To The World Nuclear Association.

This week I was on a  Kick Nuclear picket outside of the Central Hall Westminster.

This is where the World Nuclear Association was holding its 37th Annual Symposium.

Delegate to this years gathering came from such companies as: –
Westinghouse, EDF, AREVA, Rosatom, Urenco, BHP Billiton and TEPCO.

At the start of start of yesterdays morning session a few remarks were made about the PR problems which the industry now faces.

Just to illustrate this point: –
The Complete text of the Kick Nuclear leaflet was read out to the gathering.

Here is that text: –

Planning For More Disasters.

Today the World Nuclear Association is holding its 37th Annual Symposium at the Central Hall,
Westminster.

This year the conference is entitled Back To Business.

They will be discussing a radioactive future for us all.

– Yet children in the Ukraine are still being born with chronic illnesses, which results from the Chernobyl disaster.

– Yet the Fukushima nuclear disaster is still unfolding.

– Yet rising sea levels threaten to engulf many existing atom plants, such as at Sizewell on the Suffolk coast.

– Yet we still don’t have any long-term solutions about just how to safely store all the existing radioactive waste.

– Yet the nuclear industry still wants to construct more atomic plants, such as at Hinkley in Somerset, Sizewell in Suffolk, and many other places around the world.

Back to Business Poses a Danger to Us All.

There is an alternative to such a radioactive future.

– We can get our power from non-polluting small-scale local wind, tidal, solar and wave power sources.

We can cut our power consumption by insulating our homes

We can create a better future for us all.

Kick Nuclear. c/o 5 Caledonian Road,
LONDON NI.

http://kicknuclear. org

Energy Subsidies & Energy Conservation Taxation.

Energy Issues.

I keep reading about the high prices which the energy companies
charge to their customers within Britain.

This is related to the problem of Fuel Poverty.

At the same time there is a major debate about energy subsidies.

This goes hand in glove with the idea of giving tax breaks to
‘green energy’  and carbon capture projects.

The problem about this is that the nukiller industry getting in to
the act, and erroneously claiming that these power plants help to
halt climate change.

This is the kind of argument which George Monbiot has fallen for:
– despite the fact that the mining and transport of uranium contributes to climate change.

Yet take away all of these subsidies,
and what do you get?

The use of solar and windpower as the cheapest form of energy production.

Some Real Alternative To Energy Production.

Of course the real challenge is to cut down upon the use or
energy,
or better use just what energy we do produce.

This should be done in conjunction with a major push to introduce
better energy conservation measures throughout the UK and the world.

Rather than give tax breaks to the energy companies,
it would be much better to put the money in to energy saving
measures.

Just cutting VAT ( Value Added Tax ) on double glazing,
or sales tax as it known in the rest of the world,
might be a good starting point.

At present the Energy-saving materials in the UK are VAT rated as 5%.

All energy conservation products should become zero VAT rated !

At the same time a lot of the present problem of fuel poverty,
and pensioners being killed as a result of hypothermia,
could be alleviated by increasing the Winter Fuel Payment from
the present derisory level of just £200 a year.

Such measures would be cheaper for us all in both the long and
short term too.

In the long term all these measures might help to cut down our
taxes and other expenditures,
and increases the amount which is paid out in pensions.

Thus in turn it would alleviate the whole set of problems which come with fuel poverty.

A Long Term Story About Never Never Land.

When I was a child in the 1950s and 1960s people would talk about purchasing items on the ‘ Never Never’.

i.e.  By hire purchase.

This expression goes with the
‘Use Now and Pay Later’
way of thinking.

It also goes hand in hand with a way of thinking which includes
that of paying by credit card,
‘pay day loans’,
increasing personal loans
building up national debts,
and in turn the kind of global financial mess we are all so familiar
with right now.

The same principle also seems to apply when it comes to just how
we all will have to continue to pay to look after nukiller waste for
many centuries after these plants have been closed.

The Daily Mail has just published the following news story which
illustrates this point:-

The most toxic pond in Europe: Sellafield will cost £10bn to make safe.

In the same news story they point out that once the nuclear fuel is
removed from the newly decommissioned nukiller power plant at
Oldbury, that these used fuel rods will be stored untouched upon site until at least 2096.

That is some 84 years in to the future.

If nukiller power is the ultimate example of ‘built in obsolescence’,
then we really are going to take a long time to pay for it on the
Never Never.

Present And Future Nukiller Power Problems – Wasted

Back Then And In To The Future.

Some problems take a long time to solve,
while others get worse over the years.

This is certainly the case when it comes to just how we will have to deal with the long term problem of nukiller waste.

Back In The 1970s

Here is what the UK nukiller authorities had to say about this problem way back in the late 1970s:-

– – –

Waste disposal

If nuclear power is to go ahead to its full potential acceptable ways must be found of dealing with radioactive wastes, especially the long-lived fission products. At present high level radioactive wastes are stored in liquid form mainly at Windscale in Cumbria; but to reduce the need for surveillance it is planned to convert them to glass blocks. After a period of supervised storage these will be disposed of either deep underground or on or under the ocean bed. Britain is working in association with other countries to assess the suitability of a number of geological formations for the disposal of radioactive waste. Granite and other hard rocks, clays, shales and salt are being looked at to study porosity, heat resistance and other relevant properties, both in the laboratory and in the ground at the proposed burial depth of about 300 metres. The rocks that are of interest are widely distributed: much of  Britain’s granite is found in Scotland, while other rock types are found predominantly  in England and Wales. Research and testing will need to go on for several years before a demonstration disposal site for high level radioactive waste can be identified.

Source:
Scotland and Nuclear Power.

UK Atomic Energy Authority.
June 1979

– – –

All handling processes involving radioactive materials are carried out remotely until the fission products are removed. The concentrated fission product waste extracted during reprocessing is at present stored in stainless steel tanks. The tanks are double-walled and are located in concrete vaults which are themselves lined with stainless steel. The fission product waste that has accumulated in this country over the last 25 years is stored in some 14 stainless  steel tanks at Windscale. The total volume is about 750 cubic metres, the size of a four-bedroom, family, detached house. The storage of liquid fission product waste is well established and safe, but there are advantages in making it solid for more effective disposal. A process to convert this waste to a solid, glass-like form for long term storage is being developed and will be installed at Windscale in due course. The process comprises mixing the liquid waste with silica and borax and heating the slurry in a furnace to form glass. The glass is cast into cylindrical, stainless-steel sealed containers which can be stored under water in ponds. The glass is chemically inert and practically insoluble and thus the radioactive waste is permanently “locked-in”.

Source:
Energy from the atom.
2 – nuclear fuel.

British Nuclear Fuels Limited.
1978

– – –

Right Now and In to the Future.

The amount of this radioactive waste has really grown since these words were published.

There is a lot more such waste which is currently being produced,
and a lot more will be produced in the decades to come. *

While we have learnt just how silly it is to ever contemplate the storage of this waste in shale or salt.

– There is still the question of just how you might make such places safe by keeping out ground water ?

&

– Just how to prevent any major earthquake damage to these depositaries?

I was not reassured about the long term safety of these nukiller waste dumps when I read these pamphlets some 35 years ago, and I still believe that this is a problem which can never be solved by those who run the nukiller power industry.

* Unless we manage to close down all of the nukiller power stations.

Present And Future Nukiller Power Problems – Part Two – Islands In The Making.

Right Now.

There is an increasingly optimistic prospect that the proposed two
new EDF nukiller plants at Sizewell and Hinkley may not be
built.

If Centrica be also be persuaded to pull out of new build,
then what we will have left are just the existing plants to close down within the UK.

In to the future.

The real problem with campaigning about nukiller power is that
it involves some very long term thinking.

Within 30 – 40 years Sizewell could be a island if sea levels
continue to rise as the result of global warming.

While at Bradwell the decommissioning process
will not be completed until 2087.

That is 75 years from now,
by which time all of the current anti-nukiller power activists will be dead.

In to the centuries to come.

This says nothing about all the other long term problems about
the safe storage of nukiller waste which  will pose major problems
in the centuries to come.

In other words: –
We not only need to think about short term campaign to stop new
build and closing down the existing nukiller plants,
but make sure that what’s left over at the plants does not become
an environmental danger in the years to come.

This means we will all need to do some very long term thinking,
and that must also be a very different way of thinking.

Gothic thinking.

It all reminds me about those who built the Gothic cathedrals.

They would plan and work upon them,
while also knowing that they would be long dead after the
buildings were completed.

It’s a very long term vision of a nukiller free world which we now
need to start thinking upon.

It’s a very long term campaign for us all.

Westinghouse And Toshiba Nukiller.

Following the news that both E.ON and RWE are pulling out of a
project to building new nukiller plants in the UK,
there has been a lot of speculation about which companies will
buy in to Horizon.

One of the companies which has been mentioned in this context is
Westinghouse.

Westinghouse already own the Springfields plant in Lancashire
where nukiller fuel rods are manufactured.

Westinghouse has been in the ownership of Toshiba since 2006.

Another subsidiary of  Toshiba is the
Toshiba Power System Company,
which is heavily involved in the nukiller power industry.

Here is a quote from their website: –
‘ The Power Systems Company’s capabilities cover the full
spectrum of power generation systems, including high-efficiency
thermal and hydro power generation, renewables such as
geothermal and wind power, and nuclear power, all essential for
realizing the stable electricity supply essential for powering our
modern world.’

I doubt that many people in japan believe that line after the disaster at Fukushima.

Toshiba needs to be reminded about just how dangerous nukes can be.

Following that you can also boycott Toshiba –
until they pull out of the nukiller power industry.

Present And Future Nukiller Power Problems – Part One – Chernobyl.

There is no such thing as a safe nukiller power plant,
&
there certainly is no easy way to clean up the mess after any
nukiller power disaster.

The word at both Fukushima and Chernobyl is that it’s much
more of a dangerous situation that we face than the last time
anyone looked at what was happening at these sites.

After the  Chernobyl Nukiller Power Plant disaster of the 1986 a
sarcophagus was built over the plant.

Now a quarter  of a century later there is to be a new sarcophagus,
known as a Safe Confinement (NSC or New Shelter),
built over the plant.

The reason for this is that plant is currently leaking a lot of
radiation,
while we still don’t know what the full state of the present
sarcophagus might be.

Building the new sarcophagus will be a major civil engineering project.

My only Question is just how long will it be before that in turn
needs to be replaced?