In 2017 I joined with activists to launch a major campaign to keep mud dredged outside a nuclear reactor in Somerset from being dumped in Wales. We had serious concerns about the inadequate testing done on the mud, which has been confirmed by various experts, including an Emeritus Professor from Imperial College London.
The licence to dump the mud was signed by Natural Resources Wales, an agency of the Welsh Government, which is run by Labour.
There were huge protests against the mud dump, with the campaign being covered across the world on Al Jazeera, Russia Today, in the German, Pakistani, Scottish and London media.
In addition, a petition to the National Assembly passed the 5,000 signature threshold meaning a debate could be forced on the floor of the Senedd.
The result of that debate was Labour refusing to suspend the licence, with one Labour AM claiming the Cardiff Grounds is the “go to place for disposal of construction waste in the area”, including construction waste from a nuclear reactor in Somerset it seems.
An additional petition against the mud dumping received over 100,000 signatures, but this was again ignored by the Labour Welsh Government.
The first phase of the dumping went ahead in the autumn of 2018, as huge dredging vessels dumped the ‘nuclear’ mud in the Cardiff Grounds waters.
This is what we're fighting against. Mud from a nuclear reactor in Somerset being dumped in Welsh waters, without full testing, the lights of the city of Cardiff in the background. Protest, this Wednesday, 4:30 - 6:30 pm outside outside @AssemblyWales. Please be there #GeigerBay pic.twitter.com/GVnaI8vUkW
— Neil McEvoy AM (@neiljmcevoy) October 8, 2018
But a new licence is needed for the next phases and we’re mobilising now to keep this mud out of Wales. If you want to join the campaign to make sure that new licence is never signed then click sign up and fill in your details.