I was extremely
concerned to read that Rolls Royce (RR), who lead a consortium wanting to use Wales
a guinea pig nation for its experimental Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) told
your chief reporter, Martin Shipton, that they would pose no
security problems.
(“Nuclear consultant’s fears over new power plants plan,” Western Mail, 26
February 2020)
This is dangerously misleading
in several ways both by commission and omission.
In a very detailed 70-page paper I presented at the annual very
pro-nuclear European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) in Bratislava in Slovakia in June
2018, I set out the specific security vulnerabilities of SMRs.
The participants from
several countries wishing to develop SMRs and backed by several prospective vendors of SMRs took on board my
concerns
Indeed, despite the strong nuclear-supportive
leanings of ENEF, its final declaration included the following statement
recording that the Forum:
“Highlights that larger scale introduction of
small modular reactors introduces new questions, including the increased risks
for malevolent attack when reactors are more widely geographically spread, and
increased risks for nuclear proliferation, ” and added ” Safety and security
specificities related to several units operated simultaneously in the same
plant should be carefully analysed.” (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2018_10_01_enef2018conclusionsfinal.pdf)
In light of such
international caution on SMR, I am worried that senior Welsh politicians – especially
from the otherwise nuclear-sceptic Plaid Cymru - such as its current
Parliamentary leader, Liz Saville
Roberts, and former leader, Lord Wigley, are still uncritically cheerleading
for SMRs.
Last Monday (24 February Dafydd Wigley asked the business and energy
minister in the Lords:” “Did the answer that she
gave on the involvement of nuclear power stations in 2035 assume that no SMRs
will be active by that time? Is that the Government’s policy and, if not, when
will the SMRs come on stream?”
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist replied:
“The
Government’s policy is firmly to encourage the development of SMRs in a number
of sites, including—the noble Lord’s own passion—Trawsfynydd ( and in Cumbra) He will have seen the announcement that
Rolls-Royce is looking at both sites. We are still investing a lot of R&D
money in consortiums that aim to provide small nuclear reactors that contribute
to the national grid, although my original Answer did not include the
contribution that they could make.”
She belatedly added: “However, safety and security are of
paramount importance to the UK Government, and any investments in the UK energy
market are subject to a thorough national security review.” (https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-02-24/debates/C2376C18-05F5-448D-BDD1-1D1B79FCE173/NuclearPowerStations)
Why
is RR so dismissive of the very real – and possibly unresolvable- security risks for Wales of proposed SMRs,
when it is clear even others who are pro-SMRs, such as the UK Government and SMR lobbyists within the EU, accept there are serious security questions to
be addressed?
AS
someone born and raised in Neath, I do not want my home nation despoiled by reckless
dispersion of these highly contentious reactors.
Nuclear
consultant’s fears over new power plants plan
Western
Mail, 26 February 2020
A NUCLEAR
consultant who has sat on a UK Government forum on the disposal of radioactive waste
has raised security concerns about a new generation of power stations planned
for Wales and the rest of the UK. Dr David Lowry, who in the past has advised
former Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Llew Smith and is currently a senior
international research fellow with the Institute for Resource and Security
Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said there was a need for total
transparency about the proposed small modular reactors (SMRs) proposed by a
consortium led by Rolls-Royce.
Two sites in Wales – at
the former nuclear power sites of Wylfa, Anglesey, and Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd – are
among those being considered. According to the consortium, they would pose no
security problems.
But Dr Lowry, who has
spoken of his concerns about SMRs at international academic conferences, said: “SMRs
provide unique targets for terrorists to disrupt power supplies and destabilise
the local community. “Why so? Because the salespeople
for SMRs like to show
images of sleek shiny plants with no or virtually no site protection against
malevolent ‘bad guys’. “Anyone with a shoulder-held grenade launcher could fire
a devastating high-energy deep-penetrator projectile into the heart of the
reactor from just yards away. Astonishing, but true.”
Dr Lowry said it was
important that communities close to the proposed sites, and those who represent
them, asked detailed and tough questions of the consortium.
“As a result of a change
in the planning process a few years ago, there is no longer the requirement for
a full public inquiry.
“But that should not stop
local communities and their representatives demanding full explanations about
how the plants will be made wholly secure. “A five- or six-feet-high wire fence
is simply not good enough.”
A spokesman for the RollsRoyce-led
consortium, said: “Our power station will incorporate protective measures
against all of the current and future potential security risks laid out by the
UK’s authorities.
“These measures will then
have to be evaluated and approved by the UK nuclear regulator, on behalf of the
public, for our consortium to be allowed to proceed to construction.”
The consortium is
expecting to receive around £220m in public subsidy if the project goes ahead. Altogether,
it estimates that 46,000 jobs will be created, although it is unable at this
stage to say how many would be in Wales. The power stations would, if the planning
process goes ahead without hitches, start to come on stream from 2029.
All the SMRs – which are
significantly smaller than conventional nuclear power stations – would be built
on sites where there have previously been nuclear installations. They would
have a lifespan of 60 years and waste would be stored on
site for as long as the
power stations were operating. Afterwards, the waste would be stored in
Britain’s as yet unconstructed waste repository.
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