Heysham Anti-Nuclear Alliance
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Lancaster District CND recently joined a new pressure group called "Heysham Anti-Nuclear Alliance" (HANA) formed in Winter 2009 in response to Government plans to build a new nuclear power station at Heysham to be operational by 2018. EDF Energy intends to submit a planning application for the new nuclear power plant by Summer 2010, and HANA will organize within the local community against this development. We will cooperate with them to achieve our goal of stopping a new nuclear power station at Heysham.
The first meeting was held on 15th February 2010, three of our committee members attended, and there seems to be agreement that HANA is an umbrella organization which other groups will be able to affiliate to, although at the moment there is no official membership or constitution.
After a lot of discussion and e-mails our draft mission statement is currently:
"Heysham Anti Nuclear Alliance (HANA) is a broad campaigning front of organisations and individuals opposed to the construction of new nuclear power stations / reactors or nuclear storage facilities at the Heysham site."
HANA is particularly concerned by:
- The dangers of ionising radiation from nuclear energy installations.
- Problems of intermediate and long term storage of high level radioactive waste.
- The restriction of development of alternative renewable and micro-generation methods of power generation that results from investment in nuclear power in this country.
HANA recognises that:
- There are no over-riding public interests in support of new nuclear construction at Heysham.
- Far more jobs and local economic benefit can be harvested from renewable energy and energy efficiency spending.
- The future of electricity supply in the UK lies in wind, wave, PV and other renewable technologies.
- Optimising these will maximise local economic gain and the real achievement of sustainability objectives.
HANA Aims:
- To focus public awareness on the issues involved.
- To campaign against the use of dangerous technologies that threaten environments and populations, both at the Heysham site and others.
- To promote the development of an alternative sustainable energy infrastructure in the UK..
- To provide a forum for discussion and connect members with others interested in the subject.
- To collect and provide up to date information concerning these issues.
- To work with and share information with other organisations interested in the same issues.
A leaflet has been designed for local residents to explain our goals:
HANA Stall in Lancaster Market Square and Public Meeting at the Gregson Centre
The first event organized by HANA was a stall in Lancaster Market Square to commemorate the Chernobyl Disaster and promote the public meeting, which was held that evening in the Gregson Centre. Follow the link above to find out more about these events.
HANA Membership
HANA is currently an online Google Group which individuals and organization can affiliate with. The future of HANA and its organizational structure will depend on the democratic debate during our first public meeting.
The contact for the group is Maurice Pennance, who can be contacted at this e-mail address (change "at" for "@"):
Upcoming Event: 21st Low Level Radiation and Health Conference
This event is being held in Manchester at the Friends Meeting House on 19th June 2010.
Background to Government Proposal
The Labour Government launched the "2006 Energy Review" in January 2006 advocating a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK. This was driven by three factors:
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The "energy gap" caused by the decommissioning of old nuclear power stations.
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Commitment to the Kyoto protocol to reduce CO2 emissions to prevent human-induced climate change.
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The dependence on Russia for our oil and gas supplies, a nation currently engaged in aggressive foreign politics.
This energy review was successfully challenged in the High Court by Greenpeace, and on February 15th in 2007, Justice Sullivan threw out the review criticizing it as "seriously flawed".
Subsequently, the Trade and Industry Secretary, Alistair Darling, proposed a fresh consultation. This resulted in the "2007 Energy White Paper: Meeting the Energy Challenge" published on 23rd May 2007, and a consultation document titled "The Future of Nuclear Power". Both strongly advocated new nuclear power stations on existing sites owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority or British Energy.
On 7th September 2007, several anti-nuclear groups, including CND, pulled out of the consultation process because the government had appeared to have already made a decision in favour of new build nuclear power stations.
In November 2007, British Energy announced 8 sites as possible locations for next-generation nuclear power stations, including Heysham.
In January 2008, the Labour Government gave the green light to new nuclear power stations. Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton MP was an important architect of the proposal, and was responsible for launching the initiative in Parliament. This is not surprising given he has been the MP for Barrow and Furness since 1992, the location of the Trident Nuclear Submarine shipyard. He is now the Secretary of State for Defence, which leads critics to wonder whether John Hutton has an agenda to advance all nuclear issues while in government.
Early in 2008, Mark Gorry, then station director of Heysham One, told the Lancaster and Morecambe Citizen that "Heysham is certainly a suitable site and I would love for it to happen. Heysham One is scheduled to close in 2014 and when it closes there will be job losses. The thought of getting a new one is exciting for the area."
A public consultation was held by British Energy on the 23rd May 2008, but only one member of the public attended, a Lancaster District CND activist. Her voice was the only one of dissent against the proposal, as nuclear industry representatives dominated the meeting. Local councillors did not challenge the proposal, but were seen to support it with much enthusiasm.
Site nominations for new build nuclear power stations were submitted on 31st March 2009, and there was only 1 month consultation period with the public. This was an opportunity for opponents of nuclear power to make their voices heard, but Lancaster District CND does not regard it as being sufficient to make residents aware of the plans.
Heysham 3 Nomination
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) released details of the proposed locations for a new generation of nuclear power stations. Heysham was one of the 11 sites nominated for a new reactor, the first of which would be operational by 2018. Nine of the locations have operational or decommissioned nuclear power stations, and two new locations have been proposed near to Sellafield in Cumbria.
Heysham has been nominated and The Department of Energy and Climate Change provides all of the supporting documents online for members of the public to read. LDCND would like to draw attention to the most important documents as sources of information to local residents. The siting map shows the proposed site includes Heysham Golf Course, and an area to the south and west including Heysham Nature Reserve and Ocean Edge Leisure Park. It is proposed a new reactor could be ready by 2019 or 2020 and at the latest by 2025, and a second reactor is also suggested in a letter by Iberdrola Group that owns Scottish Power. In a letter from EDF, the company states that it expects to submit a first application to the Infrastructure Planning Commission by 2010, and be pouring concrete foundations by 2013, and complete the work by the end of 2017, with commercial operation beginning within 2 years thereafter.
The assessment of the area proposed for development considered numerous environmental factors. The risk of flooding is not a threat to the site as presented in a flooding map, however the shore surrounding the proposed site and the original power stations is of environmental significance. Under international statutory designations the wetland surrounding Heysham peninsula and the Lune Estuary is a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, and included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. Also this area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest based on legislation introduced by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, as presented on the national statutory designations map.
The effect of climate change was also considered in detail by an EDF report, with the rise in sea level, ambient temperatures, and increased rainfall, factored into the assessment. The risk to the proposed Heysham site was deemed minimal, putting it in a favourable position against other sites such as Bradwell and Hinkley Point which would require investment in new coastal defences. A Met Office Report provided the scientific predictions for this climate change assessment, and the results of its computer models would also be of interest to Lancaster district residents concerned about this issue.
All of this information above was summarized in the Nomination Report for Heysham, which included assessment of the proximity of the proposed site to military activities, hazardous facilities, and civil aircraft movements.
We hope this summary presents all of the information associated with the Heysham 3 nomination fairly and allows Lancaster District residents to consider the implications of a new nuclear power station in their neighbourhood. All of these documents, and other less significant files, can be accessed from the DECC web site:
No 2 Heysham 3
Lancaster District CND launched the No 2 Heysham 3 campaign against any future decision to build a third nuclear power station, Heysham 3, in our area. However this campaign has been replaced by our membership with Heysham Anti-Nuclear Alliance.
The government decision is totally undemocratic as local residents have not had the opportunity to express their views on the issue. The consultations both in May 2008 and March 2009 were poorly advertised and clearly did not represent the public, given the low attendance of residents who did not have a vested interest in the decision.
Therefore, we wish to inform Lancaster district residents about the decision, present them with the facts about the Heysham nomination, the implications of nuclear energy and nuclear waste, and lobby local MPs about the issue in advance of any future decision.
It is important to take early action before the plans proceed further. With participation from Lancaster district residents, it is possible we can achieve our goal of preventing this proposal. We feel it is also important to support renewable energy as an alternative, primarily because we appreciate the need to create local jobs, particularly during this recession. The proposal for two new wind turbines in Heysham as part of the ‘BT Wind for Change’ development, is a great idea that Lancaster District CND fully supports. Hopefully, plans for more wind turbines will follow, as an alternative to more nuclear power stations.
Nuclear Power Concerns
CND is opposed to nuclear power for numerous reasons, but the most important is the link between the enrichment of uranium and generation of plutonium from nuclear reactors which is used to make nuclear weapons. This is why the international community is so concerned with the Iranian nuclear energy program.
High-level radioactive waste is difficult to manage, and presents a health and environmental hazard unless it is stored carefully. This challenge has yet to be solved convincingly, and according to a report by British Energy on radioactive waste Britain has amounted a total of 2.3 million cubic meters of nuclear waste. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management recommended that the most hazardous radioactive waste should be stored in an underground disposal facility, but there are no plans for this as yet. As old nuclear power stations are decommissioned, this radioactive waste can only increase, so a new generation of nuclear power stations will only add to the problem. This is the hidden cost of nuclear power which when excluded makes the cost of electricity per megawatt hour appear cheaper than wind power, but ultimately the tax-payer must subsidize the clean-up, which was estimated to be £85 billion, as explained by an Independent article on nuclear waste from January 2006. The Government's priorities are clearly back-to-front if they intend to build new nuclear power stations before making the necessary decisions to solve the radioactive waste storage problem.
The possibility of nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl is a terrifying prospect, and not unique, given the Wind scale disaster in 1957 in Cumbria. The current management of Sellafield is under scrutiny from anti-nuclear critics, because in April 2005, 83,000 litres of radioactive waste was discovered to have leaked into a sump over the period of more than 8 months. This contained 19 tons of uranium and 160 kilograms of plutonium dissolved in nitric acid. Criticism of the British nuclear industry can therefore be justified by such hard facts.
For a more detailed explanation of the arguments against nuclear power, please visit the CND web page:
Nuclear Power Station Links
For more information about Heysham Nuclear Power Station visit the wikipedia page:
For more information about nuclear power in the UK visit the wikipedia page:
For more information about nuclear new build visit the British Energy page:
British Energy - New Build Nuclear
To have your say on the siting of new nuclear power stations in the UK visit:
To have your say on the siting of a new nuclear power station in Heysham visit:
Other Web sites Against New Nuclear Power Stations
There are already several national web sites that oppose the building of new nuclear power stations. They provide arguments against this policy and explain the advantages of renewable energy alternatives:
The Liberal Democrat Party and the Green Party both oppose the proposals for new nuclear power stations. These web pages explain their policies on the issue:
Liberal Democrat anti-nuclear power petition
Green Party article about nuclear power
Many scientists also oppose nuclear power although it is a hotly-debated issue: