Rightly or wrongly dumping mud off the south Wales coasts raises concerns.

This blog is no fan of maverick Plaid AM Neil McEvoy  and his populists politics and admit that my reaction to his  early campaign against plans to dump mud off the south Wales coast that has been dredged from near the Hinkley Point nuclear sites was just that populist scaremongering  and publicity seeking.

Work is expected to start next month but opponents are not backing down. A protest took place on Wednesday evening outside the Senedd and a fresh call has been made for Natural Resources Wales to suspend the licence.

Those  like Mr Mc Evoy opposed to the dredging argue we cannot say for sure that the 300,000 tonnes of mud that could be deposited on the Cardiff Grounds site is safe because the full range of tests needed to establish there is no radioactive risk have not been carried out.

The site is a sub-tidal sandbank just a mile off the coast of Cardiff..

Clearly this appears to worrying but I and many others were reassured by  the  Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas).s found that the radiation doses were "well below recommended limits" and said it had "no objection to this material being dredged and dumped".

According to the Wasting Mule 

"Natural Resources Wales states on its website: "Cefas concluded that the material tested did not have unacceptable levels of chemicals or radiological materials and was suitable for disposal at sea. We consulted with the Environment Agency (EA) as the lead regulator for Hinkley, and we both agreed it was a robust assessment of the radiological impacts and agreed with Cefas’s conclusion." 

Cefas found that the radiation doses were

 "well below recommended limits" and said it had "no objection to this material being dredged and dumped

Prehaps  it is due to my prejudice against Mr McEvoy  but had I had visions of website of him being filmed in a dinghy rowing out to the mudbmk clutching a Geiger counter.

However although I am still not convinced that the material being dumped is a danger. It does seem there are reasons for concern.

The Mule tells us that 

Richard Bramhall of the Low Level Radiation Campaign - a former member of the UK Government's Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters (CERRIE) - has voiced worries about the tests.
In a letter to NRW he raised concerns that the tests did not assess whether uranium, plutonium and other alpha-emitting elements were present in minute “particulate” form.
He stated: 

“As larger fragments break up, any given amount of particulate matter will become more mobile, be more easily inhaled into the deep lung and the lymphatic system, and will emit more radiation.”

Tim Deere-Jones, a self-employed marine pollution consultant, who came to prominence when he spear-headed a petition campaign which netted more than 7,000 signatures and secured a debate in the Assembly, argues that years of discharges from the existing nuclear stations mean more detailed study is needed.

He said:

"Those sediments had been in receipt of discharges from the Hinkley A nuclear station and the Hinkley B nuclear station... If you’ve got 300,000 tonnes of that stuff being dredged and dumped so close [to south Wales] you need to know exactly what you’ve got in it in terms of radioactivity.”

The Mule continues 

 South Wales Central's Mr McEvoy has just written to National Resources Wales (NRW) calling for an urgent suspension of the marine licence for the dredging.

He said,

“When potentially nuclear mud was tested in Kosovo they used three methods of gamma spectrometry, beta spectrometry and plasma mass spectrometry and yet the mud from outside Hinkley was tested using only one of these methods. Why was that good enough for Kosovo but not good enough for Wales?"

I don't know if Mr McEvoy is right, but if he is  then  we will be faced with how to dispose of it as it will now our waste.

Where would we put it if the further tests called for Mr McEvoy  prove positive?

I have the feeling the Welsh Government will be told "It's your problem now".

The Welsh Government is not pushing for new tests.

A spokeswoman said: 

“The recent Petition Committee’s report showed Natural Resources Wales made their determination based on expert advice. It also confirmed all tests and assessments concluded the material is within safe limits, poses no radiological risk to human health or the environment and is safe and suitable to be disposed of at sea.”

Shouldn't they have commissioned their own Tests?

They seem to be  all to eager to accept the view of those who wish to dump the mud near Cardiff and you don't need to be a complete sceptic to believe if the role was reversed and mud from around Wylfa were to be of loaded in the proximity of Liverpool to see it's elected Mayor and council vigorously opposing such actions.

I don't know if the mud is dangerous but i think that as Mr McEvoy  has argued we need further assurances  and even if they were given it would be better if it either remained where it is or moved to an alternative site away from centres of population