‘A future Fukushima’ warns nuclear expert

Lydd Airport Action Group (LAAG) opened its nuclear safety case at the ongoing public inquiry into the controversial airport expansion this week.

Addressing the inquiry was John Large, the first of four experts engaged by LAAG to claim that it is inherently unsafe for a regional airport to be developed beside a nuclear power station complex.

Louise Barton, from the action group, said: “Expansion will introduce a step change in the probability of a major nuclear accident since large aircraft, such as Boeing 737s, will be taking off and landing close to the Dungeness site.”

On Wednesday John Large outlined the vulnerability of the Dungeness nuclear power stations to an aircraft crash and claimed the risk of serious radiological release remains on site well beyond the decommissioning phase.

But EDF energy, in a public meeting at Rye, claimed the power station could withstand a direct hit from an aircraft and not leak radiation, though it said it was not in favour of the airport expansion.

The company also says the build of the power station could withstand any earthquake that could happen in the UK.

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Chartered Consulting Engineer John Large, who has first hand experience of dealing with nuclear accidents, believes the reinforced concrete vessel of each reactor at Dungeness B would most likely withstand the aircraft crash but says subsidiary equipment failures caused by the crash could lead to a very significant radiological release, mirroring the situation at Fukushima.