Nuclear warning over plans for 'garden town' near Reading
The MOD has written an eight-page objection to plans for a 15,000 home development close to the nuclear weapons plant at Burghfield
Building 15,000 homes in Grazeley near Reading would not be safe and “could have an adverse impact on the nation’s security”.
That is according to the Ministry of Defence, which has written an eight-page objection to plans for a garden town in Grazeley.
It objected after the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) around nuclear weapons factory AWE Burghfield was extended to cover most of the site that had been earmarked for the new homes.
According to the Office for Nuclear Regulation, anyone living in the zone can be affected by a “reasonably foreseeable” radiation emergency.
In its letter, the MOD states there would be “real risks” for people living in the 15,000 homes because it would be “challenging” to evacuate or shelter all of them quickly during a radiation emergency.
The letter states: “The proposed introduction of 15,000 dwellings within about 1,600 metres (at its nearest point) is directly contrary to safety and emergency planning advice and practice, in light of the DEPZ.
“In addition, it could have an adverse impact on the nation’s security by constraining both the current and future operation of AWE Burghfield.”
The MOD is concerned AWE Burghfield would be required to “restrict operations” if thousands of homes are built nearby and pay for more expensive safety measures or relocate some facilities.
It says AWE Burghfield has “unique national strategic importance” because it is the only place in the UK that can decommission old warheads and build and maintain new ones.
The letter states: “It may also affect the ability of the Office for Nuclear Regulation to licence activities without changes to the nature and amount of materials held on site, which would directly impact the ability to assemble, maintain, and decommission the necessary amounts of warheads for defence resilience.”
It also says the MOD “does not consider that such fundamental problems are solvable”.
The people in charge of the nuclear warhead factory were ordered to revaluate safety measures and emergency preparations after the government introduced the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019.
They then prepared a report which recommended that West Berkshire Council extend the DEPZ, even though the factory has not made significant changes to its day-to-day operations or started using different nuclear materials.
West Berkshire Council agreed to extend the zone when it revised the Off-Site Emergency Plan for AWE Burghfield.
Why did West Berkshire Council extend the zone?
In 2011, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan was hit by a powerful earthquake that caused the reactors to meltdown and everyone within a 12-mile radius of the plant had to be evacuated.
This prompted the UK government to introduce new legislation – known as Radiation Emergency Preparedness and Public Information Regulations (REPPIR) 2019 – which required every organisation working with nuclear material to review their emergency plans using a new framework.
After Atomic Weapons Establishment, which runs AWE Burghfield, carried out that detailed review, it produced a consequences report which stated the radius of the DEPZ around the factory should be increased from 1,600 metres to 3,160 metres.
That recommendation was thoroughly assessed and approved by Public Health England and the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
According to The Ministry of Defence (MOD), the DEPZ was extended “due to changes in the evaluation and assessment required under REPPIR 2019, not because of any changes in the inventory of materials or in the operations at AWE Burghfield”.
West Berkshire Council was legally required to accept that recommendation and extend the DEPZ when it prepared its Off-Site Emergency Plan for the factory.
Will the 15,000 home project be scrapped?
While there are no rules that explicitly state you cannot build homes in a DEPZ, the MOD states it will not be safe to build thousands of homes within this zone.
It is also highly unlikely the project will get off the ground without support and planning permission from the relevant councils.
West Berkshire Council, Wokingham Borough Council and Reading Borough Council had been working with the developers to prepare plans for this garden village in Grazeley, allocate land and secure funding for infrastructure.
But West Berkshire Council has abandoned the project, after it extended the DEPZ and the government rejected a £252 million bid for infrastructure funding in 2020.
Wokingham Borough Council, which was leading the 15,000-home project, has not scrapped it yet. But the council said it is now “looking at alternatives”.
Reading Borough Council has not pulled out, but says the project “cannot be delivered at this time” without the support of the other two councils.
Councillor Tony Page, lead member for Planning at RBC, said:
“We are not accepting that the Grazeley development is dead and it constitutes an important proposal as much for West Berkshire and Wokingham.
“Whilst it does represent an obstacle, it is one that I believe can be overcome over time but it may delay implementation of a new settlement at Grazeley.
“We continue to support a sustainable settlement at Grazeley.”