“Allerdale” (which no longer exists – it is now Cumberland) is ‘out of the running’ for a deep nuclear dump but remains directly in the firing line of geological nuclear dump plans for West Cumbria – as does Lincolnshire. The hot (literally with the waste at Sellafield requiring millions of gallons a day to cool) ‘favourite’ is of course so called “Mid-Copeland” now lumped together with Allerdale as the new Cumberland Council.  This area is being looked at (CEO of the coal mine Mark Kirkbride’s astounding appointment of 2019-2023 to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (who advise Nuclear Waste Services and the “Partnerships”) has just been extended to November 2027. Crony capitalism is alive and well in the nuclear realm and nuclear waste cosying up to coal has long been a thing.

 How to be blocked on twitter by the UK’s most popular nature writer

Robert Macfarlane’s  essay on radioactive wastes in his book “Underland.”  describes the dumping of radioactive wastes in a deep underground cavern as an act to be carried out by ‘good ancestors.’ I have just been blocked from the UK’s most popular nature writer’s twitter feed for suggesting that this shaming of those who do not want hot nuclear waste to be buried is unethical at best and outright dangerous at worst. The article I shared with the much loved nature author was in response to MacFarlane’s grief over the Sycamore Gap tree.  

Words matter – they have magic – which is why ‘good ancestors’ should not be shamed into having an enormous mine for a nuclear dump placed deep under beloved land or oceans or be shamed when they question the wisdom of making ever more nuclear wastes.  If a bath tub is overflowing with boiling hot water you don’t turn the hot tap open even more or write the word “cold” on the hot tap. The nuclear industry is doing just that with the help of erudite and popular writers – it is time to push back. Words have magic, we must  reclaim the word “clean” from the nuclear industry.