A NUCLEAR energy company’s plan to change the rules so it can ship radioactive waste across Scotland’s central belt has been condemned as a “nightmare vision”.
he French nuclear firm EDF Energy is applying for new authorisations to allow radioactive waste to be transported by road between its two nuclear power stations at Hunterston in North Ayrshire and Torness in East Lothian.
Critics say this will mean waste containers will be increasingly moved between the west and east coasts, increasing the risk of accidents.
Two applications for Hunterston and Torness, made by EDF Energy to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), go out for public consultation this month. According to Sepa, they both include “the ability to receive radioactive waste from other EDF Energy power stations for the purposes of interim storage, loading of containers and onward transfer.”
Pete Roche, an energy consultant and former government radiation adviser based in Edinburgh, warned: “Transporting nuclear waste is always going to be a risk, so the more you transport it, the greater the danger.
“The Scottish Government should force EDF Energy to operate according to its sensible policy of requiring waste to be treated as near to where it is produced as possible instead of allowing this crazy plan putting the central belt of Scotland at risk.”
He described the plan as a “nightmare vision with waste trucks criss-crossing the country”.
Continue reading at Fears raised over cross-country plan for nuclear waste transport
