Hinkley Point Nuclear Reactor

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 4 March 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Neil McEvoy Neil McEvoy Independent 1:35, 4 March 2020

I think what we have here is a failure of governance. And I wonder why—we are sat here—I wonder why we have a Government, in name anyway, if all we're going to do is put the responsibility on Natural Resources Wales. There are 780,000 tonnes of mud from outside a nuclear reactor that they want to dig up and dump—literally—on Wales, just outside of Cardiff, in the sea. We now know that there were accidents in the 1950s and 1960s, where radioactivity went into the estuary. And scientists tell me that there's a possibility that this radioactivity is still there. And yet—[Interruption.] From across the way, there are heckles, people are asking, 'What scientists?' Well, maybe you should speak to these scientists, because we are told that there are three kinds of testing that should have been done to this mud. Anywhere in the world, three types would have been done—mass, alpha, gamma spectrometry. Why is it that you've allowed Natural Resources Wales to not even do an environmental impact assessment last time? You're not going to insist upon one this time. I'm just staggered, standing here saying this. How on earth can you call yourself a Minister, how can you call yourself a Government, when you're going to allow this to happen, and let Wales literally be dumped on, with material that could very well be radioactive? Incredible.