1 year ago
832
Joint Media Release
Controversial plans to dispose of higher-level nuclear waste under the seabed off the west coast of Cumbria could cause superheated steam or boiling water geysers at the surface, according to geologist and climate scientist, Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage at Edinburgh University.
The heat of more than 140 tonnes of plutonium in specialised ceramic material – plus new wastes added over the first 100 years of the geological disposal facility (GDF) – could raise the GDF temperature to as much as 150C-200C. Temperatures will only decrease after radioactivity has decreased significantly – a period of many thousands of years.
The industry previously stated that the maximum heat would be limited to 100C, but Nuclear Waste Services has since revised it to 200C. The world’s first GDF, Onkalo in Finland, stipulates [i]no more than 100C.
Professor Haszeldine said: “Making waste into specialised solid compounds can help to become more resistant to dissolution in groundwater. But the heat generated from the radioactive decay of isotopes is not affected by that re-engineering. Adding material which may heat to 100-200C is a huge disruption and will undoubtedly change the pathways of groundwater flow. This is like having an electric kettle containing stable stationary water and then turning on the electricity to add heat – the water soon circulates and if heating continues, the water boils.”
Professor Haszeldine added: “Have the developers actually made computer predictions of these effects in this GDF? Because plutonium has isotopes which can last for thousands of years, it may be sensible to spread that through the GDF to minimise heating – but that will make predictions of containment in circulating hot water much more difficult. It’s perfectly reasonable to think of a 150C-200C heat source at 0.5km, producing a geyser of boiling water intermittently erupting at surface temperatures above boiling.”
The spread of this increased temperature, known as a thermal pulse, would be conducted through the rock over several thousand years. With the additional pressure of water column above the GDF (a hypothetical 500m below the surface), water would boil at the higher temperature of 250C, in which case superheated steam may also occur. There is currently no guarantee that the maximum heat of the GDF will remain at 200C.
Even a 1.0C increase in ocean water [ii]can cause ‘massive impacts’ on the health of sea life and contribute to marine desertification, including loss of biodiversity, collapse of fisheries, and accelerated climate change. The proposed GDF is planned to be at least 37 km3, a substantial section of seabed under the Irish Sea, in a Marine Protected Area. Similar to nature reserves or SSSIs, Marine Protected Areas are parts of the ocean established to protect habitats, species and healthy, functioning marine ecosystems. Professor Haszeldine pointed out that seeps of warm or hot water from a GDF onto the seabed are unlikely to stabilise, repair, and rewild the natural seabed ecosystems.
Demonstration outside the South Copeland Community Partnership Meeting 2nd September 2025
Spokesperson for Lakes Against Nuclear Dump (LAND), Marianne Birkby said: “NWS talks about ‘a willing community’, but the community of the wild is entirely unrepresented. The natural world does not have a voice in the plan to use the Lake District coast and the Irish Sea as a giant heat sink for the most long-lived, existing and new nuclear wastes.
“Despite requests, Nuclear Waste Services and the South Copeland GDF Community Partnership have not produced an environmental impact assessment to address ocean heating, bedrock heating, or the effects of the GDF on the Marine Protected Areas, and marine life.”
Richard Outram, Secretary for Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLAs) said: “Adverse impacts to the marine environment represent yet more challenges to establishing an undersea Geological Disposal Facility – perhaps why other nations are not pursuing this option.
“The NFLAs favour the active ongoing management and responsible stewardship of high-level radioactive waste in bespoke surface or near-surface facilities employing high-level staff able to respond to emergencies and accidents, rather than permanent abandonment for eternity in an unmonitored GDF.”
Ends//…For more information please contact:
Lakes Against Nuclear Dump is a Radiation Free Lakeland campaign dedicated to opposing the abandonment of nuclear wastes to the environment.
Contact: Marianne Birkby/LAND E: wastwater@protonmail.com T: 015395 63671
Contact: Professor Stuart Haszeldine, University of Edinburgh E: Stuart.Haszeldine@ed.ac.uk
Nuclear Free Local Authorities is the voice for local authorities opposed to civil nuclear power and in favour of renewables.
Contact: Richard Outram, Secretary NFLA E: Richard.Outram@manchester.gov.uk
[i] https://www.jksmer.or.kr/articles/xml/XnY9/
[ii] https://e360.yale.edu/digest/what-happens-to-the-antarctic-ocean-with-1-degrees-celsius-of-warming
