Dosbarthwch trwy eich rhwydweithiau o.g.y.dda gan ofyn i bobl lofnodi’r deiseb 200157 uchod i Senedd Cymru. Gall unrhyw un yn unrhyw le ei harwyddo, ac mae’n bwysig fod Aelodau’r Senedd yn gwybod bod yna gymuned fyd-eang yn eu gwylio!
Mae’r ddeiseb yn ymwneud â bygythiad EDF i garthu bron i filiwn tunnell o fwd o wely aber Hafren a’i ddympio ar fanc tywod bas rhyw 2 filltir o adeilad y Senedd yng Nghaerdydd. Mae hyn yn rhan o brosiect gorsaf ynni niwclear Hinkley Point C. Gwyddom fod y mwd wedi’i halogi ag ymbelydredd. Fe wnaethant adael 80,000 tunnell yn 2018, gan achosi difrod sylweddol i wely’r môr. Maen nhw nawr eisiau dympio ddeg gwaith cymaint. Mae angen trwydded newydd arnyn nhw ar gyfer hyn. Mae’r ddeiseb yn galw am Asesiad Effaith Amgylcheddol. (AEA)
Ni fyddai’r domen yn dod ag unrhyw fudd nac iawndal i Gymru, er y byddai cost trin yr effeithiau ar iechyd yn disgyn ar Wasanaeth Iechyd Cymru. Nid ydym yn gwybod pam mae Llywodraeth Cymru mor barod i hwyluso’r domen, yn enwedig o ystyried bod gan Gymru ddigon o adnoddau adnewyddadwy i fod yn hunangynhaliol o ran ynni. Gallai EDF ddympio’r mwd ar dir ar safle Hinkley Point.
Cyn belled ag y mae iechyd pobl yn y cwestiwn, “trosglwyddo o’r môr i’r tir” yw’r mater mwyaf. Mae wedi bod yn hysbys ers degawdau bod micro-ronynnau ymbelydrol sy’n ddigon bach i gael eu hanadlu yn cael eu hailyrru gan donnau ac y gellir eu chwythu tua’r tir am filltiroedd. Yn 2006, dywedodd Grŵp Cynghori Gronynnau Dounreay ei bod yn annoeth aflonyddu ar waddod a oedd yn cynnwys gronynnau mor fach. Yng Nghymru ni wnaed unrhyw arolwg sylfaenol cyn dymp 2018 nac ers hynny. Ond mae gennym y ffotograff hwn wedi’i dynnu trwy ficrosgop.
Mae’r marciau crwn a hirgrwn yn y canol yn byllau yn wyneb dalen blastig sy’n cael eu llosgi gan belydrau alffa o ronyn ymbelydrol 5 i 10 micron ar draws. Y plastig yw CR39, y mae cyrff swyddogol yn ei argymell ar gyfer canfod nwy radon mewn adeiladau, radon yn allyrrydd alffa arall. Roedd y gronyn mewn sampl fach ar hap o’r llwch y tu mewn i hidlydd aer car a oedd wedi’i yrru o fewn ychydig filltiroedd i Hinkley Point yn unig. Roedd yr un sleid yn dangos gronynnau eraill. Mae nifer y trawiadau yn awgrymu mai Wraniwm yw’r un hon ond gallai hefyd gynnwys elfennau eraill gan gynnwys Plwtoniwm. Mae’n hawdd anadlu’r gronynnau bach hyn a gallant deithio i unrhyw ran o’r corff.
Yng Nghymru, mae ymgynghoriad cyhoeddus ar y mwd wedi’i gyfyngu i’r rhaglenni samplu a phrofi. Dyfarnodd Adnoddau Naturiol Cymru, gan weithredu ar ran y Llywodraeth, lawer o’r ymatebion “out of scope”.
Ychydig ddyddiau yn ôl defnyddiodd EDF rig i gymryd nifer fach o samplau o wely’r aber. Ni all y profion y maent yn bwriadu eu defnyddio ar y samplau ganfod gronynnau wraniwm neu blwtoniwm bach y mae data’r Cenhedloedd Unedig yn dangos a allyrrwyd mewn niferoedd enfawr gan orsafoedd pŵer niwclear ar hyd yr Hafren (mae’r data yma; gweler Tabl 34). Pe bai Llywodraeth Cymru serch hynny yn rhoi’r drwydded, byddent yn mynd yn groes i Ddeddf yr Amgylchedd (Cymru) 2016, sy’n gofyn am ofal arbennig a’r ymgynghoriad ehangaf yng ngoleuni ansicrwydd. Mae ymgyrchwyr hefyd wedi galw ar Ddeddf Lles Cenedlaethau’r Dyfodol (Cymru) 2015.
Mae Cymru mewn sefyllfa ganolog gyda goblygiadau byd-eang. Mae San Steffan yn gwrthod cymryd rhan mewn trafodaethau am y model risg ymbelydredd ac ymddengys ei fod wedi cynllwynio gyda’i gynghorwyr COMARE (Pwyllgor ar Agweddau Meddygol Ymbelydredd yn yr Amgylchedd) i ffugio cofnodion yr ychydig drafodaeth a fu. Mae COMARE wedi methu â chyflawni ei benderfyniadau ei hun i ymchwilio i ymbelydredd y tu mewn i’r corff. Mae tystiolaeth newydd yn tanlinellu degawdau o ddadlau ynghylch effeithiau gronynnau ymbelydrol anadladwy ar iechyd.
Mae rheithfarn farnwrol ddiweddar iawn yn Japan yn dangos gwendid dadleuon yn seiliedig ar yr hen farn am risg ymbelydredd. Cydnabu Llys Dosbarth Hiroshima 84 o bobl fel hibakushas (goroeswyr bom-A sy’n gymwys i gael cymorth meddygol) oherwydd bod ymbelydredd mewnol o ronynnau cwympo yn effeithio arnynt, ond gwrthodwyd cefnogaeth iddynt o’r blaen oherwydd eu bod mor bell o’r bom na dderbynion nhw’r niwtronau allanol a’r pelydrau gama a ddiffiniodd yr hibakushas o’r blaen.
Mae angen i Lywodraeth Cymru ddal i fyny a deall arwyddocâd dyfarniad Hiroshima. Mae’r Prif Weinidog wedi sefydlu “Grŵp Arbenigol” newydd dan gadeiryddiaeth Jane Davidson ond nid oes unrhyw arwydd bod unrhyw un o’i aelodau’n gwybod am y problemau gyda’r hen fodel risg ymbelydredd nac yn deall pam na all y profion a gynlluniwyd ganfod gronynnau bach sy’n allyrru alffa. yn y mwd.
Crynhoir y dystiolaeth wyddonol yma gan gynnwys papurau diweddar iawn yn y llenyddiaeth a adolygwyd gan gymheiriaid.
Yn 2018 gwrthododd Gweinidog Amgylchedd Cymru brotestiadau yn erbyn y domen gyntaf, gan alw ymgyrchwyr yn “liars and scaremongers”. Mae angen dadl arall arnom yn y Senedd i wyntyllu’r dadleuon go iawn.
[Nodyn ar yr Hiroshima hibakushas newydd: Mae llywodraeth Japan wedi apelio yn erbyn dyfarniad y llys. Pam? A ydyn nhw mor ddi-flewyn-ar-dafod fel y byddent yn gwadu cymorth meddygol i ychydig o bobl hen a sâl yn eu blynyddoedd olaf dim ond er mwyn arbed arian? Nid ydyn nhw hyd yn oed yn arbed wyneb, oherwydd America ollyngodd y bom (trosedd rhyfel) ac nid Japan oedd ar fai. Na – y pwynt yw: os gwnaeth y bom bobl yn sâl o bell mae’n rhaid ei fod wedi’i achosi gan ronynnau wraniwm, ac mae gorsafoedd pŵer niwclear yn allyrru gronynnau tebyg. Y llywodraeth sydd ar fai am ganiatáu i’r diwydiant niwclear adeiladu dros 50 o orsafoedd pŵer yn Japan. Dyna’r atebolrwydd maen nhw’n brin ohono.]
Geiger Bay is a non-partisan coalition of concerned scientists, organisations and individuals against the dumping of contaminated mud from Hinkley nuclear power station in Cardiff Bay.
Please circulate your networks asking people to sign petition 200157 in the Welsh Senedd. Anyone anywhere can sign, and it is important that Senedd Members know the world’s eyes are on them.
The petition is about EDF’s threat to dredge almost a million tonnes of mud from the bed of the Severn estuary and dump it on a shallow sandbank a few hundred metres from the Senedd building in Cardiff. This is part of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project. The mud is known to be contaminated with radioactivity. They dumped 80,000 tonnes in 2018, causing substantial damage to the sea bed. They now want to dump ten times as much. They need a new licence for this. The petition calls for an Environmental Impact Assessment.
The dump would bring no benefit or compensation to Wales, though the cost of treating the health effects would fall on the Welsh Health Service. We don’t know why the Welsh Government is so willing to facilitate the dump, especially in view of the fact that Wales has enough renewable resources to be self-sufficient in energy. EDF could dump the mud on land at the Hinkley Point site.
As far as human health is concerned, “sea-to-land transfer” is the biggest issue. It has been known for decades that radioactive micro-particles small enough to be inhaled are resuspended by wave action and can be blown inland for miles. In 2006 the Dounreay Particles Advisory Group advised that it was unwise to disturb sediment that contained such small particles. In Wales no baseline survey was done before the 2018 dump nor since. But we have this photograph taken through a microscope.
The round and oval marks in the middle are pits in the surface of a plastic sheet burned by alpha rays from a radioactive particle 5 to 10 microns across. The plastic is CR39, which official bodies recommend for detecting radon gas in buildings, radon being another alpha emitter. The particle was in a small random sample of the dust inside the air filter of a car that had been driven exclusively within a few miles of Hinkley Point. The same slide showed other particles. The number of hits suggests this one is uranium but it could also contain other elements including plutonium. Particles this small are easily inhaled and can travel to any part of the body.
In Wales, public consultation on the mud has been limited to the sampling and testing programmes. Natural Resources Wales, acting for the Government, ruled many of the responses “out of scope”.
A few days ago EDF deployed a rig to take a small number of samples from the bed of the estuary. The tests they plan to use on the samples cannot detect small uranium or plutonium particles which UN data show were emitted in huge numbers by nuclear power stations along the Severn (the data are here; see Table 34). If the Welsh Government were nevertheless to grant the licence they would contravene the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, which requires special care and the widest consultation in light of uncertainties. Campaigners have also invoked the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
Wales is in a pivotal position with global implications. Westminster refuses to participate in discussions of the radiation risk model and appears to have colluded with its advisors COMARE (Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment) to falsify the records of what little discussion there has been. COMARE has failed to deliver on its own decisions to investigate radioactivity inside the body. New evidence underlines decades of controversy over the health effects of inhalable radioactive particles.
A very recent judicial verdict in Japan demonstrates the weakness of arguments based on the old view of radiation risk. The Hiroshima District Court recognised 84 people as hibakushas (A-bomb survivors eligible for medical support) because they were affected by internal radiation from fallout particles, whereas they were previously denied support because they were so far from the bomb that they didn’t receive the external neutrons and gamma rays that previously defined the hibakushas.
The Welsh Government needs to catch up and understand the significance of the Hiroshima verdict. The First Minister has established a new “Expert Group” chaired by Jane Davidson but there is no sign that any of its members know about the problems with the old radiation risk model nor that they understand why the planned tests cannot detect small alpha-emitting particles in the mud.
The scientific evidence is summarised here including very recent papers in the peer-reviewed literature.
In 2018 the Environment Minister for Wales rejected protests against the first dump, calling campaigners “liars and scaremongers”. We need another debate in the Senedd to air the real arguments. 5000 signatures means a Senedd debate “will be considered”. At the date of writing we have 4000, and need to reach the target in 9 days.
[A note on the new Hiroshima hibakushas: The Japanese government has appealed against the court ruling. Why? Are they so callous that they’d deny medical help to a few old and sick people in their final years just to save money? They aren’t even saving face, because the bomb was America’s doing (a war crime) and Japan was not to blame. No – the point is: if the bomb made people ill at a distance it must have been caused by uranium particles, and nuclear power stations emit similar particles. The government is to blame for allowing the nuclear industry to build over 50 power stations in Japan. That’s the liability they’re ducking.]