Elstow
Nirex Monument

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In October of 1983, NIREX, the governments nuclear waste body identified two sites for the dumping of low level nuclear waste. One was Billingham on Teeside and the other was the Elstow Storage dept.

Bedford, surrounding villages and local authorities were all against the proposal and Bedfordshire Against Nuclear Dumping, known as BAND, was formed to fight the proposal. BAND launched a petition and in March 1986, a petition containing 95,000 signatures was given to Sir Nicholas Lyell, M.P. for presentation to the House of Commons.

In May 1897 the Government announced it was abandoning its plans to dump nuclear waste at Elstow. The brick kiln, doubling as a time capsule was put up by members of BAND during the campaign.

Sources

• The Newspaper Cuttings Collection, Local Studies Library, Bedford Central Library

Nirex Monument, Elstow by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2011

Page last updated: 28th January 2014