LAST CHANCE TO STAMP OUT NUCLEAR THREAT IN PLYMOUTH

The Environment Agency today gave the official thumbs up to a plan that will see an increase in the amount of radioactive waste entering the River Tamar. Surfers Against Sewage do not believe that this proposal by Devonport Management Limited (DML) should be allowed to go ahead and are urging the general public to appeal to the Secretaries of State to intervene.

As part of an expansion at Devonport Dockyard that will see a new class of submarines coming into Plymouth for refit, DML have had to apply for a licence to increase the amount of radioactive waste they discharge from the site. The Environment Agency carried out a public consultation which ended on the 4th July and have now come up with a draft proposal which has been passed onto the Secretaries of State for Health and the Environment for their consideration.

The concern for Surfers Against Sewage is a particular radioactive substance called tritium - a substance that official government experts say is harmless but which independent scientists say may be extremely hazardous, even in small amounts.

Vicky Garner of SAS said today;

" The way that the risk from low level radiation such as tritium is assessed does not appear to be watertight, there have been criticisms about the models used to determine the risk and certain assumptions have to be made when risks are calculated. If the degree of risk can't be calculated with accuracy, how can the authorities say that they think that the risk is acceptable?"

"Our concerns are for the 250,000 residents of Plymouth and the large number of people using the waters around Plymouth for recreation. All SAS want to know is whether the concerns of independent scientists about tritium and its link to cancer and leukaemia are well-founded. If there is any doubt at all about the safety of tritium or if we are simply unable to establish the degree of risk at the present time, we should not be pumping the stuff into the water. Surely we must have learnt something from past mistakes?"

"It will now be up to the Secretaries of State for Health and the Environment to make their final decision on the matter. If they take the step of holding a Public Inquiry, the ramifications for the nuclear industry could be huge; tritium is discharged from nuclear installations all over the UK, sometimes in vast quantities. It will be interesting to see if they are prepared to open what could be a very large can of worms".

"At the beginning of this whole episode the MoD were quoted as saying that disapproval of the local population would be manageable, we now have a chance to show them that it's not. Letters to send to the Sec's of State can be found on the SAS website, so if you want this issue to receive a fair hearing, print off the letter, sign and send".

For more information call SAS on 01872 553001