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Buried at C? Sizewell nuclear power station blockaded by anti-nuclear campaigners

Stop Nuclear Power Network | 02.02.2011 08:06 | Anti-Nuclear | Climate Chaos | Ecology

By 7am this morning several campaigners masked as fish locked themselves together across the entrance of Sizewell A and B. They claim that the nuclear operators and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) have not taken the possibility of flooding and coastal erosion at the Sizewell plants into proper consideration.



Mell Harrison, 39, An Education Coordinator from Geldeston and from the Stop Nuclear Power Network said “One of the reasons we are here today is to highlight the plans and dangers of storing radioactive waste at Sizewell until 2130. That is 129 years away! We have no idea what effect climate change and coastal erosion will have on this area.”

Another protester, Emma Bateman, 42, Lowestoft added “We see coastal erosion happening along the Suffolk and Norfolk coast everyday and yet nuclear power stations are built virtually on the beach. One storm and the beach in front of Sizewell can be gone and the waves will be lapping at the foundations of the nuclear plant. Will Minsmere and Thorpness be sacrificed to save EDF's investment at the nuclear site and who is going to pay for this when it happens.”

The protesters also demanded to see “firm contingency plans on how all nuclear material would be removed from the site in a short period of time if sea level rises and/or coastal erosion threatened the safety at the site.”

Peter Lux, 48, from Geldeston said: "Sizebell B was shut down last year from March to September because of serious problems in the primary cooling circuit. Yesterday, it was taken off line at 4am, again because of problems with a pump which is part of the cooling circuit. Cooling is crucial in a nuclear reactor, and to have problems in this part of a nuclear power station is jeopardizing safety."

They also called the current consultation process “a crude justification process for what has already been decided”. The current consultation on the siting of new nuclear power stations is currently under scrutiny since the end of submission last week (24/1/2011).

Sizewell has seen several blockades in the last couple of years since it was suggested as a possible site for new nuclear build.



Contact – on the day – Ian -07717414435 or 07825224815
Or Mell on 07760161755
network [at] stopnuclearpoweruk.net

*****************************************************************************
The Leaflet says -

Buried At C
We are here today because storing radioactive waste for over 100 years
in a flood zone is a daft idea.
It does not take a genius to work out why!
www.stopnuclearpoweruk.net

Our Demands

We want concrete evidence that the nuclear operators and The Nuclear
Installations Inspectorate (NII) have taken the possibility of flooding at the Sizewell plants into proper consideration. Particularly in light of climate change.

We would like to see firm contingency plans on how all nuclear material would be removed from the site in a short period of time if sea level rises and/or coastal erosion threatened the safety at the site.

If this information is not sufficient or does not exist we call for the licences for the sites to be revoked and decommissioning of the plants to start immediately.

We have no faith in the NII who have have abrogated their mission 'To
protect people and society from the hazards of the nuclear industry' in favour of the interests of the nuclear operators.

The current consultation should should not be a mere formality to back
up a decision that has already been made. We want decision based on the balance of evidence presented not just a crude justification process for what has already been decided.

www.stopnuclearpoweruk.net
network [at] stopnuclearpoweruk.net

Stop Nuclear Power Network
- e-mail: network [at] stopnuclearpoweruk.net
- Homepage: http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net

Additions

Blockade ended at 10am

02.02.2011 10:04

The campaigners self-released at about 10am, and ended the blockade. The police did not arrest anybody.

Stop Nuclear Power Network
mail e-mail: network [at] stopnuclearpoweruk.net
- Homepage: http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net


more pics.

02.02.2011 15:03

Cod
Cod

skate
skate

mackerel
mackerel


Not 'skating' around the issues of the waste...........

Cod


Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

Re: No-one cares about your pointless and puerile "protests"

02.02.2011 11:53

In fact this is one of the biggest issues for the local community who will have to live with the radioactive waste stored at the site for hundreds of years - even the Sizewell B waste will not be moved until at least 2130.
There are many other good arguments against nuclear power but this is not "scraping the barrel" by a long way. It does not seem to difficult to work out why building a nuclear power plant and nuclear waste dump on sand and gravel next to a rapidly eroding coast is not a good idea. If EdF, the Government or any of those pro-nuclear McScientists can provide details of how this is safe then please let us know.

We are not alone in having these concerns:
"The Sizewell B nuclear plant has been built on the Suffolk coast, a site that has been earmarked for the construction of several more nuclear plants. However, Sizewell will certainly be affected by rising sea levels. Engineers say they can build concrete walls that will keep out the water throughout the working lives of these new plants. But that is not enough. Nuclear plants may operate for 50 years, but it could take hundreds of years to decommission them. By that time, who knows what sea-level rises and what kinds of inundations the country will be experiencing?"
(Dr Colin Brown, director of engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineering  http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/08/climate-change-flooding)


plunk


Don't you have any thing better to do?

02.02.2011 19:01

If you have genuine concerns about Nuclear Power why don't you go and protest and lobby government.
This would then allow the thousands of people who choose to go to work on Nuclear Power Stations and earn a living the chance to get to their place of work with out having to encounter a very small number of people who obviously have nothing better to with their time.
If there are so many poeple against Nuclear Power why are there only ever a hand full of the same old faces prepared to demonstrate?

Sizewell Worker


Well done

02.02.2011 20:17

Well done Mell and co for braving the chilly weather to oppose this mad nuclear station.
Boo to the Sizewell worker who clearly doesnt care a damn about the damage he/she does to the world as long as his palm is greased. If there is a camp this year as there was last year, Ill do my best to come up there and give my support.

ps the fish masks are beautiful.

Sam


Re- Sizewell worker

03.02.2011 11:18

Sizewell Worker. – Thank you for taking the time to find this on Indymedia and making a response.
Did you take a leaflet when you stepped over us? It explained a little about why we were there.. this time we were highlighting issues around costal erosion and building radioactive waste storage facilities there and issues surrounding the NII.

We do lobby the government and have put yet another response to this last consultation. But we know its just a con-sultation and just a cover - you know that as well as I do that the new build decision has already gone ahead – look what’s happening at your place of work.Its started.
We waste time lobbying and writing consultation responses all the time. Oh- and writing to and visiting our MP’s – what a joke!

The small number of people are due to the kind of ‘protest’ it was ( though I wouldn’t call it a protest) and I can tell you its not a nice job lying on the wet icy road.
We do it because we care – because the government are conning us into saying its necessary for energy supply – it isn’t.

Buy less – consume less – conserve more. That’s the answer. Decentralisation of our energy distribution ( and the rest of our lives…) is the way forward. Maybe even taking responsibility ourselves, for ourselves…

EdF will not take responsibility for the radioactive waste stored on Sizewell beach for the next 200 years ( it could be there forever, as no deep disposal has been built any where in the world yet – not completed- as it’s a real problem) EdF are skint – they will be bust by then.
I am aware that as humans we pop our rubbish in a bin and the men and women take it away and we don’t see it again – out of sight out of mind! And that’s what the nuke industry want you to feel about the waste…




Any how -haven’t you got time off? Isn’t Sizewell B shut AGAIN for safety reasons? Oil in the cooling pump?

Skate


Sizewell Camp Dates

03.02.2011 11:29

Sam- Oh yes its that time again...

Easter weekend Anti nuclear Power -Camp at Sizewell.
22nd april till 26th april.


Camping on the beach - workshops - networking - Demo - public meeting, walks in the woods, along the coast.... and what ever else we fancy at the time.

There is soooo much space on the beach - so bring everyone you know!

more details coming soon on how to get involved coordinating it etc............

hope to see you there.

Mackerel


Extent of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

03.02.2011 13:50

It's nearly twenty-five years now since the world realised that something terrible had happened in Ukraine. The Soviet authorities there only gradually admitted the full But eventually it became clear that the accident had released at least 100 times more radiation than the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed. And even now there's danger. A new cover's being built to shelter many tons of radio-active wreckage. The polluted area around the plant is now known as the "Zone of Alienation". And Richard Hollingham has been exploring the ghost town that lies within it - a place called Pripiyat.

The report can be heard at: 17.12 minutes at the address below:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00y2sdr/From_Our_Own_Correspondent_03_02_2011

Budgie