Author: martynlowe

Countering Capenhurst – Summer 2018

Statement by Dr Paul Dorfman

There is no question but there are very real concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding Capenhurst’s activities  the adequacy of nuclear safeguards at Capenhurst Environmental and public health risks associated with Capenhurst’s routine operations as well as incidents and accidents Capenhursts management of uranium hexafluoride.

Fukushima Contrasts

If anyone wants to know just what the ONR [ Office for Nuclear Regulation ] has to say about the ongoing disaster at Fukushima, then they should read the following: –

Fukushima and the UK nuclear industry

That report was penned in 2011, and they have added nothing to it since then.

In contrast Kick Nuclear has been producing the regular Fukushima Updates.

The latest of which is to be found here.

More on Uranium exports to Russia.

Radiation Free Lakeland published this very useful article on the sale of Uranium products to Russia.
The Beautiful Game?  

EXPORT OF URANIUM PRODUCTS TO RUSSIA FROM PRESTON “IS IMPORTANT” to the UK.

As we keep saying: –

These sales raise many very worrying concerns, while the details of these exports are surrounded in secrecy.

DRS Open Day – July 2018- A summary report

July 21st was the 5th time that we have gone to a DRS Open Day event.

This year, despite our not being able to get more activists to turn up on the day, we did never the less managed to hand out some 2,500 leaflets in just under four hours.

While inside the depot there was a nukiller waste train wagon on display.

You can view them upon just some of the youtube videos of the event here, here, & here.

What strikes us about this is that DRS are now aiming to normalise seeing these waste flasks.

Next year we will be at the DRS Open Day at Carlisle, where we will be organising a protest in the company of our fellow activists from Radiation Free Lakelands.

Anniversaries & Forthcoming Events

August 4th – St Bees, Cumbria.

Radiation Free Lakeland [ RFL ] has sent an urgent to Sellafield, asking them to monitor and retrieve radioactive particles from St bees beach ahead of the Cumbria Wildlife Trust ‘Beached Art’ day on Sunday August 4th.

Sellafield have treated this straightforward request under Freedom of Information rules which means that there will not be a reply for at least a month, and even then they might have to pay for the request to be answered.

The request has been sparked by a citizen science project carried out by Radiation Free Lakeland volunteers in collaboration with nuclear science undergraduates at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in the US.‘

In the absence of any warnings from the authorities, RFL will once again be at the beach at St Bees to leaflet and warn people about the very real possibility of their children (or pregnant mothers) ingesting radioactive cesium, americium and plutonium.

August 6th – Hiroshima Day.

August 9th – Nagasaki Day.

October 10th – Springfields

We will be back at the Springfields plant to mark 61 years since the Windscale Fire.

July 2019

The next DRS Open Day will take place at their depot at Carlisle.

We will be back to leaflet the event in the company of our fellow activists from Radiation Free Lakeland.

Thomas the Stank Engine

Thomas the Stank Engine got his name because he hauls DRS [Direct Rail Services] train wagons, which contain very stinky, very dirty, and very nasty nukiller waste.

Come Join us as we tell the tale of Thomas and his mates!

Distribute this information outside any of the railway stations which Thomas passes through.

 

DRS Nukiller Waste Flasks Leafleting on July 21st

The current { July } Issue of the Railway Magazine lists the following DRS nukiller waste train sightings.

On May 9th a waste flask was taken through Berwick-upon-Tweed.

While on May 22nd a flask train was seen going from Crewe to Sellafield.

So that’s another two reasons to join us on July 21st between 10.30. and 15.30. while we leaflet outside of the DRS [ Direct Rail Service ] open day event at their Gresty Bridge depot in Crewe.

STOP URENCO Declaration 2018

It is now 40 years after the Stop URENCO Declaration which stated that: –

‘We declare our total and uncompromising opposition to URENCO and in particular to the supply of enriched uranium.’

The Declaration went on to state that: –

‘No safeguards are adequate to prevent the diversion of nuclear material for the production of nuclear weapons.’

While URENCO continues to enrich Uranium and sell it to many countries around the world, we will continue to oppose these sales, much in the same way as we oppose all aspects of the nukiller power industry.

Our immediate concerns are:-

– The URENCO sale of depleted uranium Hexafluoride to Russia.

– The increase of radioactive waste which is a direct result of uranium enrichment.

and

– How the proposed building on new nukiller reactors will result in the creation of yet more highly radioactive toxic waste.

We continue to declare our opposition to URENCO and the nukiller power industry,

and are prepared to take all non-violent steps necessary to achieve these ends.

Close Capenhurst Campaign

Greenpeace [ London ]

Kick Nuclear

Nuclear Waste Trains Action Group

PAWB People Against ‘Wylfa-B

Radiation Free Lakelands

June 24th 2018

Forthcoming Events – Capenhurst & Crewe

There are two important protest events take place during June & July.

June 24th  –  Capenhurst

We will be going back to Capenhurst to read out the 1978 URENCO Declaration, together with an updated version, which will reflect the damage which currently being done by URENCO.

There will be some activists who were at the 1978 demonstration to read out these declaration.

The reading will start at 13.00.

Travel directions – Overground from Chester or Liverpool.

July 21st –  Crewe

Once again we will  be back to the DRS [ Direct Rail Service ] open day at their Gresty Bridge depot in Crewe.

DRS are the railway company which transport highly radioactice nukiller waste to Sellafield.

This will be our 5th demonstration and leafleting session at a DRS open day event.

This is what is stated about the event on the DRS website: –

‘Bring the family along for a fun day out as we invite you to have a look behind the scenes’.

We will be telling a very different story.

The leafleting session will last from 10.30 to 15.30.

The Depot is a 10 minute walk from Crewe station.

Please email us to know if you can attend either of these events.

 

 

New CCC, Kick Nuclear, & Radiation Free Lakeland Springfields Report.

Spotlight on Springfields

On 25th April 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union shook the world. While that disaster has been unfolding for the last 32 years the worlds first nuclear fuel manufacturing plant based in a small village near Preston, UK has been quietly continuing with its civil and military nuclear contracts

Through the gates of the Springfields plant pass a deadly cargo of nuclear materials which have fuelled nuclear bombs, nuclear reactors and nuclear accidents for over 70 years. These materials pose a radiological and chemical threat to human health and to the environment.

Springfields has been operating so quietly under the radar that the recent public inquiry into fracking at Roseacre Woods has failed to expose the inconvenient truth that the fracking HGVs would share the exact same country lane with nuclear materials including the uniquely toxic uranium hexaflouride (Hex) to and from the Springfields site.

“This briefing is a snapshot of hard earned knowledge gained by campaigners. It is a work in progress and aims to shine a Spotlight on Springfields”

In a forward to the briefing Dr Paul Dorfman of The Energy Institute, University College London states:

‘Given the very significant radiological risk associated with production at Springfields, and the fact that the major population centre of Liverpool is down-wind, it’s truly astonishing that more attention hasn’t been paid to this facility.  This well-researched document opens the lid on the can of worms that is Springfields’

Included in the briefing is:

‘Hex’ and some reasons for concern –

  • In 1989 M. A. Simpson of BNFL Springfields wrote: “The fuel and enrichment divisions within BNFL are involved in some 4000 lorry journeys per year covering the transport of non-irradiated fuel elements as well as the feed materials and intermediate products of the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle.”   (Transportation for the Nuclear Industry Edited By D.G. Walton, S.M. Blackburn)
  • Flasks used by the nuclear industry to carry deadly radioactive material around the country could explode, causing nuclear disaster. Research by French scientists found that the flasks were only able to resist fire for less than three minutes. The flasks transport uranium hexafluoride, or “hex”- used to make fuel for nuclear power stations.
  • As well as being radioactive, hex reacts with air to produce hydrofluoric acid. This is a gas, which can destroy the lungs. The nuclear industry transports hex to Russia, the United States and Europe from its Springfields nuclear plant in Preston.

Uranium concentrations found in Springfields stream sediments have been found to be about 20 times background level. Radmil monitoring organisation, Lancashire County Council’s now defunct nuclear watchdog, had tested the River Ribble and there was no radiation along it from granite. The elements which formed the source of the Ribble pollution could only have come from Springfields.

The Springfields website boasts that it has already produced several million fuel elements and provided products and services for over 140 reactors in more than 12 countries. The country road to and from Springfields, situated at the far end of Preston New Road, is the worlds first nuclear fuel highway. Springfields is being primed to produce ever more nuclear fuels and nuclear materials and now may well have fracking lorries for company.

A print edition of this report will soon be available.

Countering Capenhurst – April/May 2018

H&S Executive Petition

On monday February 19th we attempted to hand in a petition to the Health and Safety Executive office at Bootle.

In it we asked for them in there role as protectors of the Health and Safety of UK citizens, to urge HM Government to effect an immediate ban on the extraction of fossil fuels within 10 miles of Nuclear Installations.

Noted in the ONR report.

We noted the following within the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR)

Site Report for Urenco UK Limited (UUK) Capenhurst

Report for period Jan – Jun 2017

‘ Tails Management Facility (TMF) Project

The TMF programme and permissioning Hold Point Control Plan are subject to continued delay and uncertainly. To enable and monitor progress, ONR holds regular meetings with UCP to discuss the recommendations that ONR requires to be addressed prior to ONR permissioning active commissioning of the TMF.

Just what these delays and uncertainties might be is a very interesting indeed.

New UK Government Regulations

Civil liberties are a continuing concern for anyone who is involved in campaiging against nukiller power.

That is why we have noted the following: –

The Nuclear Security (Secretary of State Security Directions) Regulations 2018

As with all such acts and regulations, it is how they are used which worries us most.

Resist Uranium Mining

Uranium mining starts the a whole cycle of radioactive pollution which ends up at places like Capenhurst, Sellafield, and Drigg.

So Stopping the nukiller power industry starts with resisting Uranium mining, such as has happened in Australia.

Submarine Waste

An update on the Radioactive submarine waste which will be stored at Capenhurst has just been published in the Plymouth Herald under the headline:-

The nuclear graveyard in Plymouth where submarines go to die.

This includes HMS Conqueror, which sank the Belgrano during the Falklands War.

Anniversaries & Forthcoming Events

April 26– Chernobyl Day

June 24 – Capenhurst

We will be going back to Capenhurst to read out the 1978 URENCO Declaration, together with an updated version, which will reflect the damage which currently being done by URENCO.

The reading will start at 13.00.

Travel directions – Overground from Chester or Liverpool.

June 26 to 28  – Glasgow

This years Clarion Events Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) Arms Fair and conference will be held in Glasgow.

This event sponsored by both BAE systems & Babcock.

July 21 – Crewe

We will also be back at the DRS [ Direct Rail Service ] open day at their Gresty Bridge depot in Crewe.

This will be our 5th anniversary demonstration and leafleting session at the DRS open day event.

October 10 – Springfields

We will be back at the Springfields plant on to mark 61 years since the Windscale Fire.

Countering Capenhurst – Winter 2018

Countering Capenhurst – Winter 2018

As ever we are doing a lot of campaigning work about all aspects of nukiller power, but much of it centrers around doing a lot of research, while working in co-operation with other campaigners.

Capenhurst in the news.

Japanese sale speculationOn January 19, 2018 the following news story appeared in the Nikkei Asian Review.

‘ Japan in talks over bid for UK uranium powerhouse

The Japanese government has entered into negotiations to acquire U.K.-based Urenco, a major European producer of enriched uranium, in a deal that is expected to be worth several billions of dollars.

The state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation is expected to make an offer together with U.S. nuclear energy company Centrus Energy.’

But URENCO says No.

On the same day we read in Nasdaq the that ‘Urenco, the world’s second largest nuclear fuel vendor after Russia’s Tenex, said on Friday it was not in discussion with the Japanese government about the sale of its business.’

So it’s a case of protest as normal.

Brookfield and Springfields.

At the start of January it was announced that Toshiba is selling its westinghouse subsiduary, and thus Springfields to Brookfield.

This is a $4.6 billion deal.

Brookfield is a Canadian investment company, which desribes their investment philosophy as such –

‘ Our investment strategy is simple: utilize our global team of investment professionals, our vast network of employees across our operating businesses, and our industry partners to identify and acquire high quality assets at favorable valuations and finance them on a long-term, low-risk basis.

We then create value by increasing cash flows and asset values, and realizing the investment at the right time. Because the businesses we invest in form the backbone of the global economy, we are able to make operational improvements, generate steady cash flows and generally provide insulation from the extremes of market cycles. Nevertheless, we always seek downside protection, and we’re proud of our ability to generate strong risk-adjusted returns across all market conditions.‘

 

So what this might mean is that Westinghouse is restructured, parts of it merged in to other companies, and some major changes make to its nukiller power building programme. Although it is just too early to tell just what these changes might be.

Forthcoming Events.

Fukushima Day Events

 – Friday March 9  – 

Vigil to mark Fukushima day in Lancaster. This will be to point out the dangers of new build, and those which are inherent with the Heysham reactors continuing to be in use.

London – Kick Nuclear & JAN events.

Friday March 9th – 17.30.

Vigil opposite the Japanese Embassy, Piccadilly. WI.

Sunday March 11th

March from the Japanese embassy to Whitehall. Assemble Noon.

Wednesday March 14th

Parliamentary Public Meeting. 

Portcullis House, Westminster, London SW1 – 19.00. – 21.00.

April 26th – Chernobyl Day

June 24th – Capenhurst

We will be going back to Capenhurst to read out the 1978 URENCO Declaration, together with an updated version, which will reflect the damage which currently being done by URENCO.

The reading will start at 13.00.

Travel directions – Overground from Chester or Liverpool.

July – Crewe

We will also be back at the DRS [ Direct Rail Service ] open day at their Gresty Bridge depot in Crewe.

This will be our 5th anniversary demonstration / leafleting session.

October 10th – Springfields

We will be back at the Springfields plant on to mark 61 years since the Windscale Fire.

Countering Capenhurst – December 2017

No useful information from the ONR.

During 2016 we asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation [ONR] just how much depleted Uranium Hex is held at Capenhurst, and received this reply.

We know that depleted uranium hex is being sent to Russia for further enrichment, and so we asked the ONR just how much this might be.

We also asked for any details which they might have about this URENCO contract.

The reply we received gave us no information as to just what this might be.

Amongst other things we were told that the ONR does not possess any details on any commercial contracts made by the company.

Thus it raises more questions than answers.

– Such as just how much depleted uranium hex will be left at Capenhurst to go through the new tailing’s plant ?

– How this related to the various non-proliferation treaties ?

&

– Just how do we hold Urenco accountable for their ‘commercial operations’ ?

 Yet another MOD link.

The link between Nukiller Power and Nukiller Weapons is and has always been a strong one.

One of the latest links between the two comes in the form of Vice Admiral Sir Simon Lister, who has just been appointed to the board of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

He has previously worked for the MOD, and is :- ‘ Predominantly experienced in the Defence nuclear sector’.

Neither an estimation or guestimation.

Working out just how much depleted Uranium Hex is left at Capenhurst will give us a clue about just how much the new tailing plant will be able to process each year. We have even worked out a formulae in order to do so.

Yet just how can we get this end result, without the figures to go with it?

Flags wanted.

We already have a number of anti-nukiller Smiling Sun & Remember Fukushima flags to use at various events.

We we now need are some Australian Aboriginal flags to go with them.

This is to illustrate the link between  Uranium mining,  and various indigenous people.

For example: –

Australia’s uranium has been mined since 1954, and three mines are currently operating. More are planned.

Australia’s known uranium resources are the world’s largest – almost one-third of the world total. 

It should be remembered that Friends of the Earth Australia has been: –

‘ Working with the Mirrar people and other environmental organisations we helped stop the development of the Jabiluka uranium mine in Kakadu in the Northern Territory.’

&

‘Working with the Kupa Pita Kunga Tjuta, we stopped the development of a radioactive waste dump on indigenous lands in northern South Australia’

Resources. 

Magazines from the international movement against nuclear power.

Laka Foundation, the documentation and research centre on nuclear power, has an extensive library with many thousands of books and reports (check the catalogue), posters (check), buttons, and a lot more. Laka also has a large collection of magazines from movement against nuclear power from all over the world. From obscure pamphlets to full-colour magazines.


‘The past few years we digitized all important magazines from the Dutch movement (1975-1995) (check), and now we are starting to work on magazines from other countries .‘

40 Years On.

The URENCO Declaration was published on June 24th 1978.

We will be going back to Capenhurst to read out this decoration again, together with an updated version, which will reflect the current work being done by the company.

61 Years on.

We will also be back at the Springfields plant on October 10th to mark 61 years since the Windscale Fire.

More details on these events will be published during 2018

Countering Capenhurst – November 2017

As ever there is a lot of campaigning work which needs to be done.

Yet much of this work is very dependent upon putting a lot of time, and effort,  in to constantly monitoring what goes on at the various radioactive fuel plants.

It is not the most glamorous type of campaigning work, but it is an essential activity.

This issue of Countering Capenhurst contains some of the various documents which we have been looking at of late.

At some stage in the future we will combine a lot of this information.

After which we might be better able to estimate just how much Depleted Uranium Hexafloride is still to be found at Capenhurst.

That’s in contrast to all of the guestimations which we have been able to do so far.

After that we will try to put together an estimation of just how long it will take URENCO to process it all in their new tailings plants. Though it will not be possible to do until we have more figures to work with.

Another URENCO Contract Comes To Light.

Finding out just which contracts URENCO has is not an easy thing to achieve.

So we found the following news story of interest.

OPPD [ Omaha Public Power District ]board of directors unanimously approves new vice presidential position.

The key text in this news story being: –

‘ Recently, Hansen’s production fuels team unwound the last of four outstanding nuclear fuel agreements with URENCO, a global player in the nuclear industry that was asking OPPD for a sizable payday.

Hansen said earlier this week that URENCO argued OPPD owed “on the order of $66 million” as outlined in a contract between the two parties.

OPPD refuted the assertion, disassembled nuclear fuel that was not used or needed at Fort Calhoun and sold it back to URENCO, netting about $15 million in the process.’

Not seeing the flasks because of the trees.

This is a quote from the current issue of the Railway Magazine – November 2017.

It is to be found under Operations Track Record – DRS.

‘ The RM carries regular reports regarding the numerous flask trains which run around the country.

One correspondent reported a visit made to Dungeness branch on September 19 when class 68 Nos 68003 + 68018 arrived with a train, with the class 68s having bodyside damage caused by trees, buckthorn, and brambles growing along the branch.’

We make no comment upon this report.

Recent Activities

On October 10th it was the 60th anniversary of the Windscale fire.

We joined with Radiation Free Lakeland to mark this event at both the Spriingfields and Sellafield sites.

While we continue to keep leafleting outside of Warrington station on a regular basis.

Warrington is just one of the many railway stations through which highly radioactive used fuel rods are taken to Sellafield.

If you want to take part in any of these leafleting sessions, or hold one at your local station where these waste trains go through, then please get in contact with us.

Further Research & Further Reading

Survey into the Radiological Impact of the Normal Transport of Radioactive Material in the UK by Road and Rail

Published by

Public Health England

March 2017

This is one of the most interesting documents which has been published this year.

Amongst other things this document give a total of the amount of radioactive materials which originate at the various nukiller plants.

What’s of particular interest is amount of waste which being transported by road.

‘Taking into account that the Magnox data provided was for a six month period, the total number of packages currently transported over a year is estimated to be about 9,200 by road and 700 by rail.’

This is broken down in to tables such of the following: –

‘ Table : Summary of the consignments (C) and packages (P) containing radioactive waste transported by road and rail to and from LLWRbetween April 2014 and March 2015.’

Yet there are still major information gaps in these figures.

Such as within the following:

‘Information on movements of radioactive material was also obtained from a metal recycling facility which treats radioactively contaminated metal. Surface contaminated metal is treated at this UK site but activated metal is sent to an overseas facility for treatment. In 2014, 131 consignments containing 950 packages were made from the metal recycling company. About 20% of the total consignments were to UK air and sea ports and were subsequently shipped overseas.

There is no indication of which companies or ports these might be.

While much of the information in this document uses the word Estimated.

For example while referring to just how radioactive expossure the transport workers receive per year.

Thus it lists the following: –

– Estimated doses due to transport during the nuclear fuel cycle.

– Estimated doses due to transport during the uranium enrichment process.

– Estimated doses due to transport of radioactive material from the nuclear fuel reprocessing facility.

– Estimated doses due to transport of low level radioactive waste for recycling, storage and disposal.

While this quote says it all: –

‘During a visit to the fuel fabrication facility at Springfields it was not possible to take dose rate measurements around a loaded vehicle as none were available. It has therefore not been possible to estimate doses to workers loading or unloading vehicles or doses to drivers transporting the different fuel types.‘

In summary.

This document does contain a lot of very useful information, but it can not be defined as one of the most comprenensive publications on the subject.

Some Forthcoming Events.

Saturday December 2nd.

We will be running a stall at the

Manchester & Salford Anarchist Bookfair

March 2018

On March 11th it will be 7 years since the start of the ongoing disaster at Fukushima.

Kick nuclear will be marking this date with a series of events.

In the meanwhile the regular weekly picket of the Japanese embassey & the London TEPCO offices continues to be held every friday.

July 2018

We will also be back at the DRS [ Direct Rail Service ] open day at their Gresty Bridge depot in Crewe next July.

More details on this when we have the exact date this will take place.

Countering Capenhurst – Our Hex and Export Concerns

This is a special issue of Countering Capenhurst.

Finding out just what goes on at Capenhurst is very difficult to do, and the same applies to all of the URENCO plants.

What follows is just a summary of what we have managed to find out about the plant of late, and something about which countries URENCO has been trading with.

A question of Hex

We continue to keep asking about just what is going on at Capenhurst, with questions such as:-

How much depleted Uranium Hexafluoride is stored at Capenhurst?

&

What is the state of the Uranium Hex containers ?

Yet there is an aspect of this which very few people have ever heard about.

There is a clue to it within the following  Review by HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.

Urenco (Capenhurst) Ltd’s strategy for decommissioning its nuclear licensed site.

 ‘UCL has an ongoing contract, up for renewal in 2007, with Technabexport of Russia, which takes ex UCL tails cylinders and re-enriches the material to low enrichment product and/or pseudo natural. The product is sold on and the pseudo natural is re-fed or sold on. The operation of this contract is maintaining a steady state of net tails stocks on Capenhurst site.’

That’s something which URENCO has kept very quiet about.

Shipping information

We recently came upon a German  BREMISCHE BÜRGERSCHAFT report which listed the movement of uranium through the port of Bremin.

This included uranium being sent from Urenco to Russia.

Two of the latest of these reports are

Atomtransporte durch das Land Bremen seit dem 30. Juni 2014

&

Atomtransporte durch das Land Bremen seit dem 30. Juni 2013

The importance of these reports is that they give some clues as to just which companies and countries URENCO is traiding with.

Europe’s radioactive secret

Then we came upon the following report which was published in 2005,  and which has not been followed up on.

Europe’s radioactive secret.

How EDF and European nuclear utilities are dumping nuclear waste in the Russian Federation

‘ This report summarises the secretive attempts of the European nuclear industry to ‘solve’ one of their largest waste problems, by exporting and dumping tens of thousands of tonnes of uranium wastes in Siberia, in the Russian Federation.’

This last document is very worrying indeed.

The Re-enrichment of West European Depleted Uranium Tails in Russia

The information contained in this document are very technical in nature.

So rather than give an analysis of what is in this document we will just give the following summary from this report.

‘ Since 1996, depleted uranium tails from West European enrichers Urenco and Eurodif are being sent to Russia for re-enrichment. In Russia, the imported tails are, instead of natural uranium, fed into surplus enrichment cascades. The product obtained from re-enrichment is mostly natural-equivalent uranium plus some reactor-grade low-enriched uranium.

These products are sent back to Urenco and Eurodif, while the secondary tails generated remain in Russia,where they are re-enriched further to obtain morenatural-equivalent uranium and/or slightly enriched uranium. The latter is then used as blendstock for the downblending of surplus highly-enriched weapons-grade uranium into reactor-grade low-enriched uranium. The ultimate tails left, still comprising at least two thirds of the amount imported, remain in Russia with unknown fate.’

&

‘Details on the re-enrichment business, though it is currently taking place at large scale, are hardly obtainable. In Russia, all related information is confidential; and, the West-European enrichment companies involved, Urenco and Eurodif, are not very communicative, to put it politely. In its recent annual reports, Urenco not even discloses its annual production figure, nor the capacity break down for its facilities, not to speak about other data of interest, such as amount and assays of tails produced.’

We will continue to keep searching for more information on these contacts.