Embargoed until March 3rd, 2014
Local people are holding a vigil at Heysham Nuclear Power station on March 8th to mark the 3rd
anniversary of Fukushima and to express their concerns about how climate change – and
associated sea level rises and storm surges – will affect Heysham power stations where nuclear
waste is stored on site.
Mo Kelly, a local architect, will be taking levels to demonstrate how high sea levels may be in 2100.
She will show how high a 5 metre storm surge would be, making reference to the 18 metre high
waves we have recently seen overcoming the sea defences, damaging property and destroying
railway lines on the south coast this winter.
Mo Kelly said, ‘When storms occurred this winter, we visited the power station, and were horrified
to see that waves within Morecambe Bay were flooding the promenade that runs beside the
1.220mm high flood defence wall on the perimeter of the power station. As responsible citizens, we
must ask these questions. What will happen when sea levels rise, and there are storms, causing sea
surges and waves that may breach or overcome the concrete flood defence wall ?’
According to the Government, as many as 12 of Britain's 19 civil nuclear sites are at risk of flooding
and coastal erosion because of climate change (Guardian, March 7th, 2012)
Nine of the sites have been assessed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) as being vulnerable now, while others are in danger from rising sea levels and storms in the
future. Experts suggest the main concern is of inundation causing nuclear waste leaks, with David
Crichton, a flood specialist and honorary professor at the hazard centre at University College London
noting that sea level rise, especially in the south-east of England, will mean some of these sites will
be under water within 100 years.
Gisela Renolds of Lancaster & District said, ‘People are concerned about how flooding will affect
Heysham Nuclear power stations, and would like to know how they are preparing for climate
change-induced sea level rises and storm surges. We want the operators of Heysham nuclear power
stations to tell us 1.) How are they preparing for climate change-induced sea level rises and storm
surges? 2.) How we can we be sure that flooding will not cause nuclear waste leaks and 3.) How can
the nuclear power stations continue producing waste if there are no safe solutions for long-term
storage?
Press contact: Mo Kelly 01524 389911
Editor’s Note
According to the Guardian, March 7th, 2012, the sites include all of the eight proposed for new
nuclear power stations (including Heysham) around the coast, as well as numerous radioactive
waste stores, operating reactors and defunct nuclear facilities. Two of the sites for the new stations
– Sizewell in Suffolk and Hartlepool in County Durham, where there are also operating reactors – are
said to have a current high risk of flooding. Closed and running reactors at Dungeness, Kent, are also
classed as currently at high risk. Another of the sites at risk is Hinkley Point in Somerset, where the
first of the new nuclear stations is planned and where there are reactors in operation and being
decommissioned. Many of the sites date back to the 1950s and 1960s, and are unlikely to be fully
decommissioned for many decades. Seven of those containing radioactive waste stores are judged
to be at some risk of flooding now, with a further three at risk of erosion by the 2080s.
There is no geologically safe site yet in the UK for long-term storage of highly radioactive waste
which will remain hazardous for 240,000 years.