Countering Capenhurst – March 2021

Continuing to Campaign

While we are still in lockdown it remains difficult to keep active campaigning going, which is why we still looking at some of those aspects of the nukiller industry which normally get very little attention.

DRS Updates

Flask Movements.

We are still looking for individuals to help keep us informed about the movements of the various DRS nukiller waste flasks. So if do see any please let us know.

In the meanwhile here are a couple of reports of late.

On December 7th two flasks were spotted at Dungeness,

while on December 9th a flask or flasks were sent from Huntington to Sellafield.

Cumbrian Community Rail

Community Rail Cumbria (CRC) comprises the three accredited Community Rail lines in Cumbria which includes the Cumbrian Coast Line. That is the rail line which runs from Carlisle to Barrow, and includes Sellafield.

This is how the station is described upon their website: –

‘ Sellafield station was opened in 1850 to serve a remote area of farms. The station is now a busy freight location, as much of the nuclear waste arising from the UK’s decommissioning programme is carried by train here from the docks in Barrow-in-Furness or from rail-connected nuclear power stations elsewhere in the UK. The station marks the end of the single line section from Whitehaven, which is operated using the electric key token system.’

The Aims pf the CRC include:-

– To undertake a pro-active approach to those sections of the Cumbrian community disadvantaged by health, isolation or social deprivation.

&

– To seek effective passenger and freight rail service improvements;

The DRS Connection

During November Eddie Pollock became the new CRC Chairman.

This is how he is described upon the website _

‘As a long-standing member of the Partnership, Eddie has represented Direct Rail Services who have been an influential and supportive partner for many years

Recently, his role within Direct Rail Services has evolved from Projects Planner to Business Development Manager.’

Working together

In February we read the following news in the Rail Advent:

‘Direct Rail Services has announced that has joined up with NDA Transport Subsidiaries to launch Nuclear Transport Solutions, which will start in April 2021.’

‘ The freight operator is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, with Nuclear Transport Solutions expected to become the “centre of excellence” that will bring together commercial, legal and operational expertise under one roof.’

NDA Update

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority [ NDA ] has just publish their

Draft Business Plan1 April 2021 to 31 March 2024

This includes a section upon both: –

Springfields Fuels Limited and Urenco Nuclear Stewardship Limited.

Contact Update.

You may of noticed that we have disabled the Comments feature on this webpage. This has been done due the high volume of spam we were receiving.

While due to lockdown it is taking longer for any mail to get to us.

So if you have any need to contact us then please use our email address.

closecapenhurst[at]gmail.com

Forthcoming Events

– Fukushima Day – March 11th.

– The DRS Open Day – In July if it takes place this year.

– 64th Anniversary of the Windscale fire – October 10th.

Countering Capenhurst – New Year 2021

Not Exactly

During December Urenco produced a statement which states:-

‘ Urenco welcomes the UK Government’s pledge to realise a more ambitious target of reducing the country’s emissions by at least 68% by 2030, as compared with 1990 levels.’

What this statement does not include is how mining and processing uranium, the building of new reactors, or nukiller waste storage processes increase atmospheric pollution.

While there is no account of transport carbons emissions in this statement.

The best line in this statement states: –

This pledge further demonstrates a serious intention for the UK to be seen as a leader in decarbonisation.

It sounds very similar to those lines we keep hearing from those who operate Sellafield.

It’s more like world leaders in the production of pollution.

Sizewell

Together Against Sizewell C [ TASC ] was founded in 2013 to stop EDF’s plans to build two EPR nukiller reactors on Suffolk’s fragile Heritage Coast.

You can read about their campaigning activities at

www.tasizewellc.org.uk/

ONR Reports ‘Significant incidents‘.

Normally we would not recommend anyone to read the publications of the Nukiller Power Industry, but this is [ as they say ] an exception.

The annual report of the Office for Nuclear Regulation [ ONR ] was published in November.

As with all such reports it is very self congatuatilly in nature, which is why it needs to be read with a very critical analysis what it states to be factually true.

The most telling part of the report is to be found within the section Significant incidents by site.

This lists various problems at Devenport, Dungeness, Heysham, & Sellafield.

Nukiller Power, Capenhurst, and Brexit.

Amongst the various undesirable aspects of the Brexit deal is the following agreement for further cooperation on nukiller power.

This agreement continues to uphold the Treaty of Almelo, under which URENCO was established on the 4th of March 1970.

You can read the text of it here.

DRS Updates

On October 15th yet another DRS waste train was observed on the way to Torness. While on December 7th there were two flasks which arrived at Dungeness.

Framatome

Framatome is not a company which is very well know by many anti nukiller activists, but it is one which does need to receive much more of our attention.

Framatome is owned by the EDF Group (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI – 19.5%) and Assystem (5%).

Here are a couple of headline press releases which have been put out of late.

May 26, 2020 – Framatome signed a framework agreement with EDF in to provide engineering services to support ongoing nukiller power station operations.

December 7th 2020 – Rolls-Royce group signs agreement to sell its civil nuclear instrumentation & control business to Framatome

Forthcoming Events

Given the current restrictions on public transport, it is not possible to do much forward planning, or undertake any of our regular events.

However there are a few dates which we wish to highlight over the coming year.

– Fukushima Day – March 11th.

– The DRS Open Day – In July if it takes place at all.

– 64th Anniversary of the Windscale fire – October 10th.

Countering Capenhurst – Late November / Early December 2020

DRS Updates

DRS are once again transporting Radioactive waste from the decommissioned Magnox reactor at Berkeley.

They are being taken via the Sharpness, Gloucestershire, rail line. That’s the short line which goes goes from Sharpness to Cam & Dursley, at which junction it joins the main line which goes north via Gloucester and Worcester.

The first of these DRS trains took a load in August. There will be similar train loads taking place every month.

Recent DRS Radioactive Waste Flask Movements

The movement of nukiller waste to Sellafield by DRS continues.

These are just some of the recent movements of these highly radioactive used fuel rods.

Flask movements were observed on August 11th, September 11th, and 12th. There were also waste flasks going to and from Torness on September 16th & 23th, and then again on October 15th. While

other waste flasks went to & from Dungeness on October 5th 6th and 7th.

Campaigning in Australia.

Don’t Nuke The Climate – Australia,

This is a a coalition of environment groups that actively track and respond to nuclear threats in Australia.

It has a lot of very useful information and maps on its website which include both Nukiller and Uranium Sites.

Spycops Targeted Anti Nukiller Activists

If it was not for the many years of spycop activities, many social justice and ecological campaigns would not still be necessary.

The following comes from the current Spycops Public Inquiry.

AMENDED WRITTEN OPENING STATEMENT ON BEHALF OFTHE DESIGNATED LAWYER OFFICER CORE PARTICIPANT GROUP

TRANCHE 1, PHASES 1-2: SPECIAL DEMONSTRATION SQUAD UNDERCOVER DEPLOYMENTS 1968-1982

‘ Infiltration necessarily had to be achieved before and not during or after times of high intensity and activity which could be quickly triggered by an event or the coalescence of disparate groups around a cause célèbre or topical issue with wider support, e.g. Vietnam, apartheid, internment, industrial action, ban the bomb, nuclear power, the transport of nuclear waste by train or the Falklands War.’

In other words – This confirms that Pacifists and Anti nukiller power activists were being subjected to spycop activities.

This full statement can be read at: –

https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20201028-Opening_Statement-DL_Clients.pdf

We fully expect there to be many more similar revelations made during the duration of the inquiry.

The next phase of the spycops public inquiry hearings will be held some time around the start of April 2021.

Not Seen

One of the side effects of the current crisis we are all in, is that the [ Office for Nuclear Regulation ] are not performing their regular on site inspections of various nukiller plants.

This is what it says on the ONR Site Report for Urenco Capenhurst for the period April, May, and June: –

‘ No on-site Inspections due to Covid-19.’

While the site inspection for the Heysham Reactor is reported thus: –

Heysham 1•4 August (Site inspection)•14 –17 September (Site and remote inspection)Heysham 2•9 June(Physical Inspection)•18 June(Remote Inspection)•23 June(Remote Inspection)

In contrast – This what took place at Torness: –

‘The duration of the station visits has been kept to a minimum and focused on plant walk downs and other activities which ONR are unable to conduct remotely.’

In the site inspection report for Hinkley,

[ Yes Hinkley Not Capenhurst ], we found the following: –

‘ ONR has granted an extension to an Enforcement Notice served on Urenco UK Ltd, recognising the good progress made so far. The notice was issued in late December 2019, following a fire safety inspection at the Capenhurst Works in Cheshire, which revealed shortfalls in the fire alarm and detection systems at one of the site’s facilities. Urenco UK Ltd must comply with the requirements of the extended notice by 30 September 2020.’

In conclusion.

We have found many good reasons to keep inspecting the ONR nukiller plants inspection reports – on a very regular basis.

Forthcoming Events

Given the current restrictions on public transport, it is not possible to do much forward planning, or undertake any of our regular events.

However there are a few dates which we wish to highlight over the coming year.

– Human Rights Day – December 10th.

– Fukushima Day – March 11th.

– The DRS Open Day – In July if it takes place at all.

– 64th Anniversary of the Windscale fire – October 10th.

Countering Capenhurst – October 2020

Right Now

This is very much an interim issue of Countering Capenhurst.

Aside from having to deal with the effects of Lockdown, we are working upon a number of other related issues, while putting together the groundwork for some further campaigning resources.

In Between all the bad news

During September it was announced that HITACHI is withdrawing from building WYLFA B

We congratulate PAWB (People Against Wylfa B) for all their work in pushing for this outcome.

Meanwhile

‘ A decision on planning consent for the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant project on Anglesey that was due to be made yesterday has been delayed until 31 December, as requested by Horizon Nuclear Power, the UK project developer owned by Japan’s Hitachi.’

DRS

DRS continue to drag nukiller waste flasks to Sellafield [ Windscale ].

The latest ones included –

To and from Torness on July 14th and August 5th

Then in Early September this was the headline on the Devonlive website

Rare Class 66 train carrying nuclear flasks heads into Plymouth.

‘This was a ‘ very rarely seen DRS Nuclear Flask Train worked down from Crewe Coal Sidings to Devonport Royal Dockyard for the decommissioning of a few submarines down at the Naval base/dockyard down at Devonport.’

DRS Publication.

There is a new glossy publication about DRS

Direct Rail Services: 25 Years of Rail Haulage

This 132 page publication is aimed at train spotters, with lots of colour photographs in it.

Most importantly it lists all the information about the various train engines it uses to haul both goods wagons and nukiller waste flasks.

While it features a number of articles about operations of the nukiller waste trains.

63 Years Later

On October 10th 1957 the Windscale Fire occurred.

To understand just what happened you need to read about the Windscale Piles.

It was one of the first, but by no means the last nukiller reactor disaster.

Future Events

At Present it is extremely difficult to plan an future events due to the current pandemic.

We do however continue to collecting and distributing information about all aspects of the nukiller power industry.

Once it is possible to do so then we will be holding a series of demonstrations outside of various Nukiller plants.

It is also our intention to hold a small face to face gathering to discuss how we continue campaigning once it is possible to do so.

In the meanwhile we will continue to post various updates upon our Facebook page.

Countering Capenhurst – Summer 2020

Lockdown Campaigning

As with many campaigning groups and organisations, it is extremely difficult to plan any protests, pickets, leafleting sessions, or public events at present.

Thus we are spending a lot of out time keeping up to date with various nukiller developments, and trying to work out just where we might hold events over the next year to 15 months.

The problem is that many of the places we wish to hold events in are now back in lockdown again. A good example being Preston near Springfields. While many of the events at which we have had stalls in the past have been cancelled this year.

On the plus side it is giving us time to evaluate just how we will continue to campaigning over the next few years.

Current Campaigns

There are currently a lot of news stories about reactor developments with possible new build, Hinkley, Sizewell, & Bradwell.

Rather than just link, or reproduce all this news information, we recommend everyone to take out a subscription to the No2NuclearPower daily news briefings.

Other blogs and websites which we also recommend in terms of keeping up to date on energy and nukiller power issues are that of

Dr Ian Fairlie, Dave Toke’s Green Energy Blog , RADIATION FREE LAKELAND, Beyond Nuclear International, Fairewinds Energy Education, and the WISE Nuclear Monitor.

You can also keep up to date upon what’s new via our facebook page.

Petitions

Currently there are a number of online petitions calling for action to stop the nukiller power industry.

A number of these are to be found on the Stop Hinkley Website.

There is also a Petition calling on the Welsh Government to invoke the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, and thus stop the dumping of radioactively contaminated mud in Welsh waters.

Keeping Informed Via Out Publications

Unlike many campaigning groups we are not holding online talks, but you can still keep yourself informed by reading our publications online.

Here are the links to them.

Capenhurst. The facts.

Spotlight on Springfields

Wildlife and the Atom

You can also find a lot of information via our Issue Briefings.

DRS Updates

DRS are still moving used nukiller fuel rods to Sellafield.

Recent waste flask movements included to and from Torness on May 14th & June 16th.

While they were also observed going through Crewe on May 20th & June 6th.

It is also of note that DRS are still recruiting for more drivers, which will be based in their London and Rugby depots.

Future Events

Windscale Fire Anniversary events

On October 10th it will be the 63nd Anniversary Of The Windscale Fire.

At the moment we intend to mark this anniversary.

How exactly this will be done will depend upon both local lockdowns, and the availability of public transport.

So more information about what we intend to do much nearer the time.

Issues Briefing – The ONR

The Office for Nuclear Regulation

When it comes to making the nukiller industry accountable for its actions, one of the greatest barriers we face in doing so is the Office for Nuclear Regulation [ ONR ].

What they say

This is the stated aims of the Office for Nuclear Regulation [ ONR ] : –

‘ ONR independently regulates nuclear safety and security at 36 nuclear licensed sites in the UK. We also regulate transport and ensure that safeguards obligations for the UK are met. Our duty is to ensure that the nuclear industry controls its hazards effectively, has a culture of continuous improvement and maintains high standards.’

What We Know

The ONR is run for the nukiller industry for the benefit of the nukiller industry.

To quote the ONR CORPORATE PLAN 2019 – 2020: –

‘ We are the UK’s regulator for the Energy Act 2013 for the nuclear industry. We regulate safety at relevant sites such as civil nuclear sites, and some operated by the Crown (for example, Ministry of Defence). Some aspects of our vires (that is, legal powers) are limited to Great Britain (GB), while others extend out to the UK and beyond. We regulate security at civil nuclear sites in GB and more widely, where the law requires. We also regulate transport of civil radioactive material in GB.’

Yet the nukiller industry carries on in the same old shambolic fashion, polluting our planet, and creating dangers for us all.

Who Runs the ONR

The membership of the ONR Board consists of individuals with very close links to extreme energy companies, nukiller power industry, and the military.

Here are four examples of just how close these links are.

Sir Simon Lister

At the end of 2017 it was announced that ‘Sir Simon Lister appointed to ONR Board’.

What they didn’t mention is that he is better know as Vice Admiral Sir Simon Robert Lister, KCB, OBE.

Or that he was a :-

‘Senior Naval Member on the Directing Staff at the Royal College of Defence Studies in April 2008[3] and Director, Submarines in 2009’.

Mark Foy

Chief Nuclear Inspector at the ONR is also a Chartered Fellow of the Nuclear Institute.

Adriènne Kelbie

The ONRChief Executive, Adriènne Kelbie, is an Honorary Fellow of the Nuclear Institute, and was a Patron of Women in Nuclear UK between 2016 & 2019.

&

Mark McAllister

Mark McAllister is the chair of the ONR. He has spent his working life working in the oil and gas industry.

Keeping Secrets.

The ONR claim to be answerable to the public.

To quote the ONR annual report 2019-2020:-

‘ OUR MISSION IS TO PROVIDE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE REGULATION OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY, HOLDING IT TO ACCOUNT ON BEHALF OF THE PUBLIC.’

Yet every time we have put in any freedom of information requests, it has been a case of them not having the information we are interested in finding out about, or will cost us a lot of money for them to supply a redacted version of the information.

Here is just one example of this in regards to Capenhurst and how much Depleted Uranium Hex is stored at the site.

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

Is it any wonder that we are very sceptical about the ability of the ONR to deal with the nukiller power industry ?

Issues Briefing – Hartlepool

Hartlepool – The Forgotten Reactor

The EDF Owned AGR reactor was commissioned in 1983.

It is currently expected to close some time during 2024.

Activists have focused very little attention upon the Hartlepool reactor, as there are No anti-nukiller campaigns within the area.

There is however a lot of information about the plant to be found upon the No2Nuclear website.

Waste From the Plant

Nukiller waste transported by DRS from the plant is taken through Hartlepool, Sunderland, Park Lane Junction Gateshead, Haydon Bridge, Wigton, Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven, & St Bees, to Sellafield.

Past plans & Current Status Reports.

During 2010 Hartlepool was mooted as a possible site for a new reactor to be built by 2025, but this idea was dropped.

The ONR [ Office of Nuclear Regulation ] reports about the plant are to be found here.

While this is how EDF report the reactor status.

Cracks in the Core

During 2019 there were raised concerns about the condition of the plant, which may be read about on the Radiation Free Lakeland website.

Cracked Regulators Allow Hundreds of Cracks in Graphite Cores of Reactors across the UK.

Thus the Harlepool, and All the AGR reactors, need to be closed down immediately as a matter of public safety.

Issues Briefing – Drigg

Drigg

Drigg is one of the least known radioactive waste dumps.

During World War two it was an explosives factory.

For a history of the explosives plant see: –

Factories at Drigg and Sellafield made the high explosive TNT using a variety of potetntial dangerous chemical processes.

Thousands of tons of Radioactive waste are now stored at the site, which is just 7 minutes by train from Sellafield, and runs along a coastal walk.

Our concerns include the high possibility of flooding at the site, and how radioactivity could leak from the dump in to the environment.

We have done some campaigning to stop more waste being dumped at the site, but what’s really needed is more people to take up this work.

RADIATION FREE LAKELAND

The following links are to found upon the Radiation Free Lakeland website.

Field Notes from the”Delegated Decision” to Sweep Ever More Nuclear Waste Under the West Coast at Drigg

LOCK THE GATE ON DRIGG – STOP THE OPEN DOOR POLICY TO NUCLEAR WASTE

Groups Slam Plan to Stack Shipping Containers of Nuclear Waste Ever Higher Beside the Irish Sea Near Drigg

&

DRIGG DECISION: ‘We are Caught in a Trap, No Way Out, Because We Love Nuclear Waste Too Much’ ?

Issues Briefing – Tyson H Burridge

Tyson H Burridge Hazardous Waste Haulage Company.

Tyson H. Burridge is a haulage company based in Cumbria which specialises is transporting Radioactive materials.

Though it is not just nukiller materials that it transports.

A full list of the Hazardous waste which the company transports includes: –

– Organic peroxides,

– Poisonous substances,

– Acid substances and corrosives,

&

– Inflammable liquids, such as Nitrogen and toxic or corrosive liquids.

We have seen Tyson H Burridge trailers regularly parked up in the grounds of Capenhurst.

The Company.

Tyson H Burridge is a Private limited Company which was founded in 1963.

It was previously registered as

H. & M.E. FEARON LIMITED , and FOCNES LIMITED.

Being a private company there is very little information about their haulage operations online, with one of the exceptions being this news story from 2017:-

How Cumbria’s hauliers are solving a driver shortage

Those who run the Company obviously have a particular sense of humour, as displayed by the names allocated to their trucks, such as the following: –

– WINDJAMMER

– HUSTLER

– DEFENDER

– CAVALIER

&

– SURVIVOR

More Information Needed.

As with all such Haulage companies, we do not know exactly what loads they might be transporting at any one time, or the routes they use.

So we need to know much more about the company and just what loads it carries.

Issue Briefings – Barrow & Rising Tides

While much of our campaigning work concentrates upon a couple of plants, and nukiller waste, we should never forget the wider issues which we all face.

Thus we have put these two sets of briefing notes to show just how these concerns extent in to other areas.

Barrow

Barrow in Furness became a port because it has a deep water channel.

The building of war ships has been a major industry in the town since the middle of the 19th century.

Today Barrow is best known as the place where BAE Systems build Trident nukiller submarines. The company is also building the Astute-class submarines.

What is less well know is that the ships which transport nukiller waste around the globe go out of the port of Barrow.

Neither do most people realise just what else goes on in the town.

Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited, a subsidiary of International Nuclear Services, is based at Barrow. The company website boast that it is ‘the world’s most experienced shipper of nuclear cargoes’.

Barrow is also the home port for James Fisher & Sons, which works for the military, and built its first ship suitable for transporting irradiated nuclear fuel in the 1960s. The company also provides Nukiller equipment and services.

Then follow up on the various articles on these websites.

From Barrow “Home of Trident” to Faslane: Bairns Not Bombs!

Getting Out Of The Place.

Radioactive Waste – A New Policy In The Making ?

Earthquakes, Rising Tides, and Changes to the Landscape.

When considering the future of any coastal reactor or nukiller plant, we do need to think about the changing landscape, the long term danger of flooding, and the effects of earthquakes.

It might also be noted that this list includes the two earthquakes which effected Blackpool during April & May 2019.

Both of these were caused as a direct result of fracking.

Sellafield

The river Calder, from which the Calder Hall reactor is named, used to be a meandering river. Now the first part of it which goes through Sellafield runs in a straight line. So that any Tsunami which hits the plant will gather momentum as it is channeled through the plant.

It might be noted that there have been a number of floods within the plant over the last few years.

Dungeness, Hinkley, and Sizewell are also in danger of the effects of rising tides, major storms, and tsunamis.

Such dangers can be seen if one looks at the history of these areas.

Dungeness

The Dungeness area is surrounded by marshland. It is well worth considering just how this area has changed over the centuries.

Hinkley

The existing Hinkley plants lie on the River Seven and on the edge of the Somerset levels. That’s an erea which has suffered a lot from flooding over the years.

It is proposed to build a new reactor at Hinkley, though not if we and the Stop Hinkley Campaign can help it

Bradwell

Then consider the Colchester earthquake of April 1884, which is also known as the Great English earthquake.

The key point being that its epicentre was very near what is now the former reactor at Bradwell on the essex coast.

There was the Great Tidal Surge of 1953 which effected the area.

You should also keep in mind the Dogger Bank earthquake of 1931, which reached a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter magnitude scale.

Looking at the Maps.

Even a brief examination of the Ordinance Survey maps will give one an idea of just how much of a disaster might occur if something might go wrong at one of these sites.

For Dungeness see: –

Asford & Romney Marsh.

Rye & Folkstone.

Landranger 189

For Hinkley see:-

Western-super-Mare

Bridgewater & Wells

Landranger 182

For Sizewell see: –

Saxmundham, Aldeburgh & Southwold.

Landranger 156

and

For Sellafield see: –

West Cumbria and Cockermouth

Landranger 89