Plaid Cymru will table a motion tomorrow demanding that mud from Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station due to be dumped outside Cardiff is tested first.

Natural Resources Wales and the Welsh Government have already granted a license for 300,000 tons of mud to be dumped in Cardiff’s inshore waters in June.

But the Plaid Cymru Group on Cardiff Council has tabled a motion demanding “independent and rigorous testing” be done first.

The group’s leader, Neil McEvoy AM, said that he was shocked to hear at the Assembly Petitions Committee earlier this month that there has been no analysis of the radioactive dose that the mud contained beyond 5cm.

“It was also astonishing to hear that no details could be given as to where the mud may end up,” he said.

“Scientific studies show that radioactive particles can travel 10 miles inland from the sea. The whole of the nearby Welsh coastline could be affected.

“It beggars belief that the Labour Government in the Bay has given the go ahead for the dumping, despite this huge safety oversight.

“I am asking every Councillor in Cardiff, as a capital city, to act in the Welsh National interest and support our motion.”

‘Reassurance’

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) sais this month that the approach taken to the marine licence application would “probably be very different” were it received today.

They were giving evidence to an Assembly committee considering a petition of more than 7,000 signatures calling on the Welsh Government to intervene.

John Wheadon, permitting services manager for NRW told the committee he would hope “we would do something differently if that application was received today to provide that additional reassurance to communities”.

“There are plenty of examples where we do have permit applications where we engage with local communities and beyond if we realise the level of public interest that is there.”

But marine radioactivity specialist Tim Deere-Jones of the ‘Stop the Dump’ campaign dismissed accusations of “alarmism” by the nuclear industry.

“It’s nothing more than an attempt to hide the fact that the industry has no answers to the concerns raised by both the Campaign and AMs on the Senedd Petitions Committee.”