Let’s not sell Romney Marsh short; I believe it has and deserves a
better future than being the dumping ground for all of Britain’s high
level nuclear waste. Shepway Council has started a consultation to ask
whether residents want to find out more about building this
underground storage facility here and my view, and that of the Marsh’s
County Councillor Carole Waters, is that the answer should be no. This
process is not being driven by the Government or Kent and we cannot be
made to have it if we don’t want it.
If this project were to go ahead we need to consider what it would
mean for the environment of Romney Marsh. Firstly the land area on the
surface for this storage facility would cover 250 acres; a space large
enough to include a building the size of the new Wembley Stadium more
than 22 times over. The rubble and debris brought out of the ground
during the construction would be equivalent to the amount brought up
when the Channel Tunnel was built and many readers will remember what
that was like to live with. Then of course they were building a new
connection with Europe supported by high speed rail links, this time
it would just be a hole in the ground. Also, it could not be built
next to the existing power stations on the coast at Dungeness because
of the habitat regulations protecting the shingle, so it would need to
be constructed some distance inland. Where would this be; Brookland,
Old Romney, Ivychurch? At the moment the planners don’t know but
wherever it goes it will change that community forever.
Some people may argue that building this nuclear waste store will
create jobs needed on the Marsh. This is an important issue, and the
need for new jobs is the reason why I have been a strong supporter of
the development of Lydd Airport and will continue to push for a new
nuclear power station at Dungeness. We need these jobs now and I am
concerned that the prospect of building a nuclear store like this, and
all the disruption it will cause will drive other businesses away and
blight the area. No jobs in any case would be created by building
this store until the start of construction in 2025 and it would not be
operating until 2040. There will be additional funds available to
support the community that hosts this store, but only if they agree to
go ahead with it, and not just for consulting on the idea and then
saying ‘no’.
There is every chance that Romney Marsh would not be considered to be
the most appropriate site in any case. In the 1980s and ‘90s the
Nuclear Industry Radioactive Waste Executive (NIREX) studied where in
the UK might be suitable for a storage facility like this and
Dungeness and Romney Marsh was not even on their long list of sites;
which did though include other locations with nuclear facilities like
Sellafield, Dounreay and Bradwell. Also, 70% of the high level nuclear
waste that will be stored in this underground facility is currently
being kept in containers on the surface at Sellafield in Cumbria, and
it’s hard to see why the Government would want to transport this by
rail back across the country, and then through London and Kent, if it
could instead by safely stored underground near to where it is now