Posted: Sat 13th Apr 2019

Wrexham Council will say no to nuclear waste ‘Geological Disposal Facility’

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area
This article is old - Published: Saturday, Apr 13th, 2019

Wrexham will be ruling itself out as a possible option to become a nuclear waste dump, with the First Minister making it clear if no local authority comes forward then there will be no disposal sites in Wales.

Those who are following our new more in-depth coverage from Cardiff Bay will have seen the issue of nuclear waste being dumped raised in the Senedd chamber itself, where we pointed out Wrexham could explicitly opt out.

As we reported the First Minister said, “This radioactive waste has been created by us. It is in the lifetime of people in this Chamber where this waste has been created. And we do have a responsibility to deal with the consequences of what we have done, rather than simply saying that we will play no part in bearing that responsibility, that somebody else must do it instead, or that we hand it on to future generations that come after us to clear up the mess that we have left. Because that mess is there; it has already been created”

At the time the First Minster added, “We will not and have not identified such sites, and we don’t intend to do so. It is for any local community that is willing to come forward to do so, and if no community comes forward, there will be no disposal here in Wales.”

We had spotted a consultation last year from Welsh Government over a ‘Geological Disposal Facility’ which when clicked through had a slightly more worrying title:

Today Council Leader Mark Pritchard told us there will be a report coming before the Executive Board, and then Full Council to state firmly Wrexham will not allow nuclear waste to be dumped inside it.

Cllr Pritchard said, “We did not want to announce it before the report came through, however there will be reports coming forward to the Executive Board and then on to Full Council. I will be presenting the report myself.

“The reports will say Wrexham will not allow nuclear waste to be dumped here.”

“I am so pleased that everyone in the coalition supported the recommendation, and to be clear that is full support with every councillor, no one needed convincing, all were fully onboard.”

“It will come before Executive Board and then on to Full Council to ratify the decision.”

“The details will be clear in the report, however it clearly states Wrexham is not for nuclear waste. It was never going to be any other way.”

Leader of Wrexham Labour Group Dana Davies told this evening: “The Labour Group do not support a proposal for a nuclear waste geological disposal facility in Wrexham County.

“Our proud history of coal mining would compromise the ability to seal in any radioactivity with the huge underground network of old interlinked mining tunnels and moreover any exploration in the future would mean a facility of this nature is most likely to be disrupted.

“Our role is to make decisions that are in the best interest of our communities.”

It appears the unusual announcement of a policy before the formal reports are made public has been triggered by a petition launched this week by Wrexham’s Plaid Cymru group, which Cllr Marc Jones noted was started as “”We have not had an answer to the direct question we asked, which is disappointing to say the least. In addition, we are not aware what the council’s Executive Board intends to do in light of the £1 million bribe on offer to communities who express an interest in taking the nuclear waste.”

 

Top pic: Years of watching The Simpsons has educated us to knowing how Wrexham would look if nuclear waste was infact dumped in Wrexham.



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