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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Communicating with the Nuclear Power Industry

I am having a lovely afternoon on the phone.

I am researching health problems around Hinkley point nuclear power station.

There is an increased  incidence of cancer of blood breast, prostate, and lung cancer, along with increases in perinatal mortality, greater in proximity to the mud flats where the Hinkley radioactive discharges are deposited. The infant mortality problems spike in 1996, suggesting an event in the previous years.

Hinkley was fined £22,000 for a discharge in October 1994 from a unit designed to hold back radioactive Iodine. 2 tonnes of radioactive CO2 were released to air, and I want to know if there were leaks to water also.

So I pick up the phone:


  1. Hinkley EDF refer me to their Press Office
  2. EFD Press office takes a recorded message, and refers me to their customer "care" line.
  3. EDF Press refers me to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)
  4. NDA will call back.
  5. NDA call back, suggests Public Health England
  6. Public Health England suggest the Office of Nuclear Regulation or Magnox
  7. Magnox is in Out Of Hours mode (it is 12:34 hrs on a Tuesday)
  8. ONR number gives me another number within ONR. I reach a grumpy-sounding  man who puts me back to switchboard and the line goes dead.
  9. Phone back in to ONR who put me through to a nice lady who asks me to put it in an email.
  10. Which I have done
  11. Magnox have phoned to confirm what it is I want (15:42)
  12. 15:50 Email from ONR: Try the Environment Agency
  13. 17:32 Nice lady from Magnox says will get back to me tomorrow.
  14. [Next day] Magnox says only non-radioactive CO2 released, nothing went to water
  15. [21st October] Magnox Communications email to say that Magnox is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the query has been handed to them.
  16. NDA emails to say my request was received on 21st October 2014 and is being dealt with under the terms of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. A fee may be payable 
  17. [to be continued]





    In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, 

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