From MICHAEL HARPER
The article on the danger of a fire at the Wylfa nuclear store in North
Wales suggested erroneously that Friends of the Earth would be embarrassed
by Nuclear Electric’s inability to manage spent radioactive waste. The air
stores, where the damaged fuel currently is placed, were intended as temporary
‘buffer’ stores to accommodate fluctuations in station operation.
In 1985 we objected to a planning application for continued use of one
of the air stores as the operators, the CEGB, were seeking very much longer-term
storage of high level and heat emitting irradiated fuel than was originally
intended. In that objection, we identified the danger of spontaneous ignition
in air of damaged uranium fuel.
We do not advocate ‘indefinite dry storage of spent fuel’ as the article
points out, but that the waste should be stored in facilities which are
engineered to allow for full monitoring and recovery should that be necessary.
For the foreseeable future, dry stores are the only systems capable of ensuring
that these two principles are met.
Michael Harper Friends of the Earth London
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