After half a decade of promises to West Cumbrian communities that the first of three Westinghouse AP1000 reactors would be operational by 2024 – a claim repeatedly refuted by CORE – Moorside developer NuGen has today admitted that the first reactor will not be operating until 2026.
New-Build reactor delays put Sellafield’s plutonium decision on the back burner.
As well as dominating the news headlines, the delays to EDF’s Hinkley Point C are also creating waves over 300 miles to the north at Sellafield and the fate of its stockpile of 140 tonnes of separated plutonium recovered from decades of spent fuel reprocessing. A Government decision on how this stockpile is to be dealt … [Continue Reading]
CORE letter to NuGen – Consultees will be short-changed unless Stage 2 consultation period extended to include Moorside’s seawater cooling systems data.
Absent from the Stage 2 public consultation on Moorside, starting on 14th May, will be detailed plans of the exact location and extent of the sub-seabed cooling tunnels and associated marine facilities because the offshore geotechnical survey designed specifically to pinpoint these vital components of the Moorside project will only start in early May and … [Continue Reading]
Major U-Turn by NDA allows UK Prime Minister to announce transport of Dounreay’s Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) to the US at the Washington Security Summit.
Plan agreed with stakeholders to manage the ‘Exotic’ HEU fuel at Sellafield ditched without consultation in covert deal rushed through with Government to meet Washington Summit timetable.
Regulatory red lights warn of impending delay to NuGen’s Moorside project.
The traffic light warning system used by the nuclear Regulators (ONR and Environment Agency) in their latest quarterly assessment update on the Westinghouse AP1000 reactors proposed for Moorside will make uncomfortable reading for both Westinghouse and NuGen. Covering the period November 2015 to January 2016, the update signals inevitable delays to securing approval for the … [Continue Reading]
Barrow ships with plutonium cargo head for the US under glare of publcity.
The cat and mouse surveillance of the two Barrow-based nuclear ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret entered its penultimate stage yesterday when a consignment of plutonium was loaded onto the Pacific Egret in the tiny nuclear port of Tokai Mura on 22nd March. Dashing officialdom’s best efforts to keep the loading – and indeed the … [Continue Reading]
Barrow-based plutonium ships pass through ‘blacked out’ Panama Canal
The two Barrow-based nuclear ships Pacific Heron and Pacific Egret, armed with naval canon and carrying security crew, were located transiting the Panama Canal from the Atlantic in the early hours of this morning 6th February. On exiting the Canal, the ships are expected to reach Japan around 29th February where they are likely to … [Continue Reading]
UK ships involved in highly contentious plutonium shipment from Japan to the United States
Barrow ships Pacific Egret and Pacific Heron, moved from the Ramsden Dock nuclear terminal in the early hours of this morning 19th January, sailed from the port on the 7am high tide. Though the destination of the empty ships has not been officially disclosed, the dockside activities around them in the days prior to departure … [Continue Reading]
NuGen’s Offshore Drilling application for Moorside; Marine life to take pot-luck
In early December last year NuGen submitted its application to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) for a licence to undertake offshore geotechnical investigations within West Cumbria’s inshore waters. The application is in support of its plans to build three AP1000 reactors at Moorside. The focus of the investigation will be the location for the sub-seabed … [Continue Reading]
CORE condemns transport of plutonium fuel from Scotland to Sellafield via a storm-damaged and flooded rail network. Public safety compromised and security risks taken
Even before Storm Desmond had finished wreaking havoc in Cumbria and Scotland, the nuclear industry took it upon itself to transport a cargo of plutonium fuel from Dounreay, Caithness to Sellafield on a rail network already highly compromised by extensive flooding, landslide and signalling failures. The first of a series of consignments of so-called ‘exotic … [Continue Reading]