Dear Ben,
I am writing on behalf of Ceredigion Green Party. Plaid Cymru policies and Green Party policies are aligned in many areas; but our positions on nuclear power have been fundamentally different. Recent comments from Adam Price suggest that Plaid Cymru may be reconsidering its historical support for nuclear power. There is one particular aspect of nuclear power generation which Plaid Cymru should be absolutely against: the possibility that the British Government will allow long-term storage of nuclear waste within rock underneath the Irish Sea.
When nuclear power stations started to be built across the UK, we were told that they would generate large amounts of very cheap electricity and would be completely safe. When the potential problem of disposal of highly dangerous nuclear waste was raised, we were told that scientists would develop a method of safe, long-term storage for hazardous waste within a few years. Nearly 70 years after Calder Hall opened, we are still waiting for a method of safe long-term storage to appear! All nuclear material needing long-term storage is still in temporary store above ground. (Note, long-term means storage for many thousands of years for long-lived isotopes.)
One suggested solution has been to bury the waste below ground in geological sites which are free of possible earthquakes and impervious. They have to be impervious because if there is any leakage into ground water, the radioactive isotopes will end up in contact with human populations.
Earlier this year, there was a programme of seismic testing over a large area of the Irish Sea to find out if the rock formations under the sea bed were suitable for the long-term storage of nuclear waste. This was carried out without the knowledge of the Senedd, the Parliaments on the Island of Ireland, or any of the large number of Local Authorities which border the Irish Sea; nor any public consultation. The testing is known to be dangerous for cetaceans and other species. The Irish Sea also contains several marine conservation zones. Ceredigion Green Party members hope you will come out publicly and campaign against both seismic testing and the idea of burying nuclear waste under the Irish Sea.
