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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Pippa Neill

Revealed: three tonnes of uranium legally dumped in protected English estuary in nine years

The Ribble estuary
The Ribble estuary is classified as a site of special scientific interest. Photograph: Paul Melling/Alamy

The Environment Agency has allowed a firm to dump three tonnes of uranium into one of England’s most protected sites over the past nine years, it can be revealed, with experts sounding alarm over the potential environmental impact of these discharges.

Documents obtained by the Guardian and the Ends Report through freedom of information requests show that a nuclear fuel factory near Preston discharged large quantities of uranium – legally, under its environmental permit conditions – into the River Ribble between 2015 and 2024. The discharges peaked in 2015 when 703kg of uranium was discharged, according to the documents.

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