|
Sustainable
eNews |
July 2003 |
|
|
IWMC
World Conservation Trust |
|
Nukes for the North
Sea
The UK's Global Gift
|
The UK believes in recycling and reprocessing those
products that are the waste remains of manufacturing and development in
modern society. Among those materials that are reprocessed are nuclear
wastes from power generating plants. Where to put it and what to do with it
for a final solution? The British government no longer allows the
reprocessing plant at Cumbria, in the northwest of England, to store
nuclear waste materials on land. The Sella field plant managers, in
compliance with government regulations, have for years been taking the
liquid  that contains
Technetium 99 out to sea, and dumping it there. Down the drain. Finished.
Until the Gulf Stream takes the stuff north, past the Irish coast, on up to
the North Sea and the Lofoton Islands, which are just off the west coast of
Norway, where 25,000 people live by commercial fishing.
Norwegians now complain that radioactive build-up in fish, seaweed, and
other seafood, is potentially dangerous to human health, and certainly
hazardous for the future of the north Atlantic fishing industry. In the
United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the
ingestion of Technetium 99 results in its deposit in many organs of the
body, including the liver and the thyroid, but that the element is then
excreted at a known rate - half is excreted within 60 hours, and half of
the remainder is excreted within the next 60 hours, and so on, until the T
99 is all gone. Until one consumes some more in the next meal, or drinks
contaminated water. Long term impact of T 99 on the body is not known, but
we know it can't be good, or the Brits would have found ways to take care
of it on their own soil.
Scientists in the UK feel the stuff should not be stored on land. They
have found that some old liquid storage tanks that do contain the stuff,
have been leaking, and that a thorough clean up of the surrounding area is
mandatory. Enraged Norwegians, such as Parliamentarian Steinar Bastesen,
leader of the Norwegian Coastal Peoples Party, feel that the British are
being irresponsible and unreasonable about the matter of dumping any level
of nuclear waste at sea. In an interview with the BBC, Bastesen remarked
that if the British (who have been down playing the danger from T 99) feel
it is safe, then they should bury it on their own land, or find some other
way to store it there. "If this waste isn't dangerous, they can eat it
themselves", said the Norwegian, himself a former whaler and
fisherman.
The impact of dumping Technetium 99 at sea is not just the proven
biological effects on fish, plants, and humans. The concept of entire
ecosystems being contaminated with radioactive waste is a significant
threat to the entire global fish trade. Other countries such as China,
Japan, Taiwan, and of course, the many members of the EU, are hearing
concerns voiced by their citizens about import regulations on seafood
possibly being too lenient. The thought of health department inspectors
checking samples of imported fish with Geiger counters is enough to
adversely affect the world market, and surely, the Norwegians and other
North Sea producers are feeling very vulnerable. Fish are their livelihood.
The sea is their field, and it continues to be fouled by their neighbor.
IWMC urges that the UK authorities immediately halt the dumping of
Technetium 99 and any other radioactive materials at sea. It is
unconscionably irresponsible, sets a terrible precedent, and has already
done damage that may never be remedied. T 99 has a half-life of 212,000
years and it will never in our lifetime disappear. The Brits have set a
date of 2012 to close the Sellafield reprocessing plant, and to have new
laws about this matter in place by 2020. The world should not have to wait
another minute for remedial action that will end this ongoing crime against
the environment and all who live in it. 
|
