Nuclear Power

LACK OF A SOLUTION FOR NUCLEAR WASTE IMPACTS ON BRISTOL

Members of Bristol Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) noted the implications for local people of a report in New Civil Engineer on 15 August 2025 saying that the UK Government’s proposed solution for long-term storage of high level waste from the nuclear sector – a “geological disposal facility (GDF)” - has been described as “unachievable” by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), a Treasury unit. The GDF was described as an engineered vault between 200-1,000M underground covering a surface area of approximately 1 square kilometre designed to safely contain nuclear waste while it decayed over thousands of years reducing its radioactivity and associated hazards.

Dr Rowland Dye, former nuclear scientist who is a member of Bristol Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament says:

“Many people do not realise that Bristol is sandwiched between no less than two nuclear sites: Hinkley Point to the south is just one hour as the wind blows and Oldbury to the north is even within the Bristol postcode area. A further large reactor (Hinkley C) is under construction. Oldbury is decommissioned (see note 1)  but there are proposals to use land there to develop small modular nuclear reactors (see note 2). As well as concerns about potential radiation leaks, a major concern about nuclear power has been that no safe and long term solution to deal with nuclear waste exists.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament policy is that there should be an end to the production of nuclear energy on the basis that this is a technology that is dangerous, expensive and will not solve the climate crisis. Nuclear power burdens future generations with a potential human and environmental disaster from nuclear waste.

No location for the proposed geological disposal facility (GDF) has been found due to geology and public resistance at the locations so far considered. Now that the Treasury has said a GDF is unachievable, it is clear there is still no safe and practicable way to dispose of nuclear waste nor is a solution likely to be found. In the meantime, residents of Bristol and the Somerset coast live with the consequences of the Hinkley Point nuclear power station producing nuclear waste as well as power."

(1) While Oldbury has been decommissioned (no longer produces power), work to remove it is on-going with demolition of reactor buildings and final site clearance planned for 2096 to 2101.

(2) Great British Nuclear plan to redevelop land next to Oldbury and Berkley for small modular reactors (SMRs) – another type of nuclear technology - www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlk5020lypo