Environmental campaigners worry over cost of nuclear dumping grounds

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Environmental campaigners are warning that Scotland’s future generations are at risk from nuclear waste.

The SNP have claimed that Scotland could be footing a £22 billion bill as part of Westminster’s clean up of nuclear dumping grounds over the coming 100 years.

Last November the UK Government estimated total clean-up costs for disposed nuclear material from weapons programmes and energy generation could come to £263bn over the next century.

With Scotland contributing 8.6% of the UK’s tax revenue, the country could be made to pay £22,618,000,000 in total, working out to £22m every year until the new century.

However, the UK Government has dismissed these claims, saying that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s annual statement from last year put future costs at £124bn across the entire UK.

It also said that calculating the amount that Scotland would pay by its tax share was inaccurate.

Scotland has three nuclear power stations which are currently being decommissioned. England and Wales have 14 sites.

Along with the Scottish Government anti-nuclear campaigners are also up in arms about the £22 billion estimate.

Lynn Jamieson Chair, of the Scottish Campaign of Nuclear Disarmament believes that “the UK government’s failure to see beyond the mythical lure of nuclear weapons” will continue to lead to future problems.

She said: “Scotland will have enormous clean up bills as long as the UK government remains committed to the nuclear industries. Remember that the production of nuclear weapons and nuclear power are historically interlinked.

“Both have produced areas of contamination and huge volumes of radioactive waste that will remain hazardous for generations. The messes of contamination around Sellafield and Dounreay are prime examples.”

Nuclear commentator Pete Roche, in front of Scottish Parliament

The Nuclear Restoration Services also recently decided they wouldn’t be able to decommission Dounreay by 2033 and moved the date to 2070.

Dounreay was originally the site of various experimental reactors now closed.

The cost of extending decommissioning work at Dounreay from 2033 to 2070 is expected to be published in the summer.

However, reports provided to staff at Dounreay show that costs may rise from £2.9bn to almost £8bn.

Earlier this month Keir Starmer was criticised for saying Trident is the “bedrock” of Labour’s defence policy.

SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes believes that money should be prioritised to “support efforts to save jobs and future proof Scotland”.

He said: “Westminster’s obsession with nuclear energy and weapons neither benefits nor helps ordinary Scots, and yet they’re expected to fork out tens of millions every year for a century to pay for the cleanup of radioactive materials.

“While the Tories have lined up funding for the cleanup of material that shouldn’t have been used anyway, public services have been decimated, and a cost of living crisis that has seen energy bills go through the roof has hammered households.

“The list of projects and causes Scotland’s £22 billion could be better spent on is endless, but as ever Westminster’s spending priorities are askew and based around making Scotland pay for things Scots neither want nor need.”

Independent nuclear consultant, Pete Roche also said: “We have no idea where the final resting place for much of this waste will be, nor how safe it will be for future generations, so it is morally indefensible to continue making more waste.

“The UK Government should follow the Scottish Government’s lead and stop planning the construction of yet more nuclear facilities.”