Wikipedia
InfoArena is the formal event that is central to the dialogue between Sellafield (Sellafield Ltd. and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) and the Norwegian NGO's Guardian of our Common Seas and Bellona.
A series of conferences have been held in the UK and Norway with one being held in Brussels in 2010. The first joint conference was held in West Cumbria during 2003.
At the conferences Sellafield Ltd. reports progress against site activities that are of concern to Nordic stakeholders. Information is freely exchanged with questions and opinions considered carefully and respectfully.
The two objectives of the conference are
1. Create and provide an environment where meaningful discussion take place and
2. Enable a better understanding for all of the following:
- The site and its acitivies
- The risks and hazards
- The concerns and interests of all parties
- The challenges and emerging issues
- The plans for the site
- Progress being made
Initially the dialogue's focus was on liquid discharges to the Irish Sea. More recently the focus has been on the hazard associated with the storage of highly active liquor (HAL) on the site and the production of HAL in the Magnox and Thorp (thermal oxide) reprocessing plants.
All but one of the conferences has been chaired by Bishop :no:Tor Berger Jørgensen Participants in the dialogue over the years have included:
- Norwegian Ministers
- UK Government representatives including British Ambassadors to Norway
- Norwegian Government representatives including the Norwegian Ambassador to the UK
- Norwegian politicians
- British politicians
- Nordic Council representatives
- Representatives from the west Cumbrian (Sellafield) community
- Representatives from the Norwegian communities
- Representatives from the fishermans organisation including Iceland
Both Governments have expressed their support and promoted the value of the conferences to the dialogue between both countries.
All participants at the conferences are welcome and encouraged to speak but to do so in a way that is respectful to speakers and other participants.
Every InfoArena finishes with a Joint Statement that is drafted by the organising committee (Bellona, Guardian of our Common Seas, Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) and then proposed to the participants for their agreement.
The last InfoArena took place in London at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during November 2014 and in Lofoten June 2016.
The organising committee have been:
Nils Bøhmer, Bellona
Robbie Huston, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Rex Strong, Sellafield Ltd
Per-Kaare Holdal, Guardian of our Common Seas