Green Party Councillor and Parliamentary Candidate for South
Thanet, Ian Driver, has accused Discovery Park bosses of “doing
a dirty on the people of East Kent by secretly sneaking a radioactive waste processing plant onto their site”. According to a document obtained by Driver hazardous waste
processing company Augean PLC, who recently purchased land at Discovery Park, have obtained an
Environment Agency Permit (number EPR/XB3235DD) to receive, store, transfer and dispose of radioactive waste at the site which is located less than 2 miles from the historic town of Sandwich.The permitted nuclear wastes include; Tritium; Carbon-14;
Phosphorous 32 and 33; Iodine radionuclides; Rubidium and Low Level incinerated radioactive waste residues. The Permit
allows for large volumes (up to 100 cubic metres of each of the designated
substances) to be stored at Discovery
Park for up to six months. The Permit
allows for these substances to be disposed of to the atmosphere during incineration;
disposed of to the public sewer system; or transferred to other approved
premises”.
Said Driver “I am shocked at the way Discovery Park’s management
and Augean PLC have handled this extremely sensitive issue. Although both
organisations claim that they are
committed to consulting and working with the communities neighbouring their facilities,
because planning permission was not required for this operation, they chose instead to keep schtum and sneak radioactive waste
processing into East Kent by the backdoor”.
“There is no mention of the nuclear waste processing operation
on the Discovery Park website. There is no mention of it on Augean PLCs website either (2). It’s outrageous and totally unacceptable for
Discovery Park and Aguean to have foisted this controversial operation on to
East Kent without consulting the community
and explaining how they will guarantee public safety when storing and
processing these highly toxic materials so near to residential areas. The
community is owed an explanation about where the nuclear material is coming
from, how it will be disposed of, where it will be transferred to and what
safety precautions will be taken to protect local people”.
“Discovery Park and its owners pride themselves on being a
major force in the regeneration of East Kent, especially now that they also own
the Manston Airport site. If they genuinely want to make a difference and
transform the area, then I suggest that they should start by being open and
transparent, about their business operations instead of sneaking in controversial activities without
consultation”.
E
Ian.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, this kind of material has been handled on the site for many many years. Originally as part of Pfizer's R&D, then transferred to the new operators.
So its hardly been snuck in through the back door.
many people simply do not know that similar processes were carried out Pfizer. Even so many people who did know probably thought that the processes had stopped when Pfizer left the site. The new processes are almost certainly different from those carried out by Pfizer and in my opinion the new site owners and Augean have a duty to be open and transparent to the neighboring community about what is going on the site, especially potentially dangerous operations like radioactive waste processing. Large corporations must be accountable for their actions - or so David Cameron and Ed Milliband would have us believe.
ReplyDelete"Almost certainly to be different processes"are you sure? The permit is available on the public register, in fact don't Augean also host a copy on their website?
ReplyDeleteThere would have been an advert in the local paper regarding this. So open and transparent? I believe so.
In the absence of you actually researching further in formation, I am afraid that I consider your post to be nothing more than scaremongering.
That's quite a bit of 'probably' and 'almost certainly'. Can you please firm up your facts if you want to present a valid argument?
ReplyDeleteWell done Ian this is horrific. When will Augean etc confirm the details of the radioactive waste? Were TDC or KCC notified as councils are responsible for public health
ReplyDelete19:35 seems keen to be dismissive and cover up a toxic dump on our doorstep and around the thousands of workers at Discovery Park
ReplyDeleteAugean Radioactive Waste Services did exhibit at last year's Nuclear Decommissioning Conference. Don't know if this is connected at all? They have more than one disposal site. Here's their tweet at the time : https://mobile.twitter.com/Augeanplc/status/445850953158504448
ReplyDeleteThe handling of those items is nothing to be concerned about.... nothing particularly nasty there and the balance with employment in the local area has to be a good thing!
ReplyDeleteWhere on the Discovery Park site is the radioactive waste
ReplyDeleteIs that so 20:23? What's your experience of radioactive waste? Wouldn't such a dump reduce employment in the area and increase NHS beds etc?
ReplyDeletePercent of those who counter these assertions who live here: 0% Those who appreciate it? 100%
ReplyDelete"Nuclear Decommissioning Conference" -Oh yeah, that's surely just tiny isotopes used in laboratory
(closed down) use. Yeah. Not that there's not hundreds of millions of pounds to be made in the handling
and onward "future" storage of such. Oh no. Ian is surely bonkers. I am a conspiracy theory nut. Andy
Coulson didn't really exist. Cameron didn't push through a statutory instrument late on the day before
parliament was prorogued for the general election, which effectively strips local councils of the ability
to veto a nuculear waste facility on their turf. Oh no, it's all conspiracy surely. Oh Ian. Educating the
mutton, making the powers that be angry again. tsk tsk.
Has anybody here actually read the permit?
ReplyDeleteLooking at the general permit; the non radiative hazards from the waste accepted beforehand is far worse than the radiation. The decay types of the listed radioactive wastes; if you look them up, are very low and unlikely to even register a metre or so away let alone cause problems for miles away.
It's articles like this that make people wonder what education some people have.