Villagers celebrate 30 years since airfield nuclear dump victory

Local residents were celebrating on Monday marking the 30th anniversary since they won their fight to stop nuclear waste being dumped under Fulbeck airfield.
Fulbeck EMN-150213-144704001Fulbeck EMN-150213-144704001
Fulbeck EMN-150213-144704001

May 1 marks the date of the announcement by the Government that it was no longer pursuing plans to bury five train loads of radioactive waste per week, for 50 years, under Fulbeck Airfield - mainly from hospitals.

Residents of surrounding villages had been up in arms protesting against the government’s nuclear waste handling agency NIREX potentially using Fulbeck, one of four such sites earmarked as a possible dump. But Government minister Nicholas Ridley finally announced after 15 months of protests that they were now looking to use deeper burial sites offshore instead as the costs were similar.

To mark and celebrate this event the village unveiled a plaque in the village hall and there was a hog roast, with entertainment provided by the Higgledy Piggledy Band, which penned the group’s campaign song.

Julian Fane, of Fulbeck, former leader of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Against Nuclear Dumping (LAND), said about 100 people attended including original campaigners. Lottie, grandaughter of local geologist John Aram, who had been part of the campaign, unveiled the plaque.

Mr Fane said: “The people of the area changed the Government’s policy on burial of nuclear waste, which was quite an achievement for a small village in Lincolnshire.

Mr Fane said he has been seeking to view Government papers which should now be available under the 30 year rule to find out what made the government change its mind. The decision came just weeks before a general election.

He said: “It would have been a huge industrial site with concrete mixing and bunkers in the middle of rural Lincolnshire with a railway line feeding into it.

“Forget radiation, it would have changed this bit of Lincolnshire.”