(400/1.3900) WISE Amsterdam - Meeting in Kalmar, Sweden, at the end of September the Environment Ministers of Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark agreed to demand consultations with the UK over THORP. They are protesting against the UK's apparent refusal to apply the June 1993 Paris Commission decision on radioactive discharges from reprocessing plants to THORP (see WISE NC 393.3831). The policy includes a full environmental impact assessment (EIA) and examination of alternatives to dealing with spent fuel before any new or revised authorization to discharge to the environment is approved. In addition, states planning new discharges should fully consult other Paris Commission members.
| "THORP: THE WHITEHALL NIGHTMARE", an 86-page report by Crispin Aubrey. For ten years, a workforce of 5,000 has labored at the construction of the most monstrous "white elephant" presently on the world nuclear agenda, the huge Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) at Sellafield on England's northwest coast. UK officials are determined to go ahead with this plant which would reprocess plutonium from reactor spent fuel, primarily for use in Japanese breeders, despite the isolation of the Major government on the issue. Among other excellent reasons for condemning THORP to the nuclear graveyard is the estimate that its operation would multiply the already scandalous radioactive releases from the Sellafield complex by a factor of 6 (also, 27 million curies of krypton-85 would be added annually to the global atmosphere with untold consequences). Author-journalist Crispin Aubrey has presented the issues with admirable clarity just as they are coming to a critical juncture. Available for: £5.99 plus £1 postage and handling from Jon Carpenter Publishing. P 0 Box 129, Oxford OX1 4PH England (US distributor: Inbook, P 0 Box 120261, East Haven CT 06512). |
Individual governments are also writing to UK Environment Minister John Gumnier, and Iceland is warning that it will apply the 'polluter pays' principle if radioactive pollution affects the fishing industry. Iceland's newly appointed Environment Minister Össur Skarphédinsson fears THORP will result in increased radioactive pollution and expresses concern that "no provisions are in effect that adequately ensure environmentally safe transport of irradiated materials to and from the Sellafield plant". Pollution from Sellafield already reaches the Arctic oceans and Icelandic waters and discharges or an accident "may have serious consequences for the sustainable utilization of marine living resources... and the marketing of marine products". In accordance with the Rio Declaration, Skarphédinsson continues, Iceland "will hold polluters accountable" for any effects pollution has on the fishing industries "which might lead to serious market repercussions for Icelandic marine products".
Danish minister Svend Auken told Gummer that even a marginal increase in radioactive discharges is unacceptable and rejects the UK's position on the Parcom policy - that building THORP started before the Parcom policy, or the EC directive on environmental assessments, were adopted and therefore they do not apply. Auken adds there are many new environmental issues since building THORP was approved 15 years ago and urges the UK to comply with the Parcom policy and the EC's EIA directive.
Meanwhile, protests coming from across the Atlantic are also mounting up. Even the US Pentagon has joined the lobby to kill THORP. The Pentagon has joined forces backing legislation that calls on US President Clinton to initiate "high-level bilateral discussions" with the UK government with a view to halting the project. Although the US State Department is lobbying Clinton to exclude civilian plutonium reprocessing from anti-proliferation measures (apparently out of concern for likely diplomatic repercussions), the Pentagon's Non-Proliferation Office is lobbying hard against THORP for reasons of national security. This places the Department of Defense in an unlikely affiance with environmental groups.
For those of you wanting to make your own objections, write to: The Department of the Environment, Sellafield Consultation, P0 Box 5, Manchester M69 4DA, UK.
Sources:
- NENIG Briefing (Shetland), Oct. 1993
- The Guardian (UK), 6 Sept. 1993
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