IGas to dump radioactive waste in South Downs National Park

IGas will be allowed to continue pumping waste, despite claims it will turn the national park into a toxic waste dump.

The company, which is also trying to set up fracking wells, has been granted an environmental permit to reinject radioactive water produced at oil and gas sites back into the South Downs.

IGas said it will stop bringing waste from other sites to dump in the South Downs while talks continue with the national park authority.

There are fears for the future of the national park

The consent, granted by the Environment Agency (EA), allows IGas to inject up to 80m3 per day - more than 17,500 imperial gallons.

If IGas injected the maximum every day, there would be enough liquid to fill an Olympic swimming pool in about a month.

Opponents criticised the decision, which will allow fluid from oil production to be injected into a borehole at IGas’s Singleton site near Chichester.

Water reinjection was linked to seismic activity in the United States, campaigners say.

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Philip Maber, who lives near the site, said: "This operation seriously threatens our chalk aquifer with forever contamination and is also the biggest single source of carbon-based emissions in West Sussex.

“I feel guilty and frustrated at how little our community and country understand the urgency for change.”

The Weald Action Group said: "We are deeply disappointed.

"The site is now officially a hazardous waste dumping ground.

“Our chalk aquifer is vulnerable and the water and environment of the South Downs National Park should be protected not polluted.”

Opponents of fracking cite a range of environmental concerns

The permit allows IGas to dispose of formation or produced water that comes to the surface along with gas during oil extraction.

At Singleton, it could contain naturally occurring radioactive material, known as NORM.

Disposal of formation water is a major cost for the oil and gas industry and often involves regular and frequent tanker journeys to waste facilities.

Under the permit, formation water to be injected at Singleton can come from the site itself and other oil wells in southern England.

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Dumping has been going on at Singleton since 1996.

It was part of a national review of permitting at older oil and gas sites under environmental regulations first introduced in 2013.

The EA said: “We are satisfied that the permit will ensure that a high level of protection is provided for the environment and human health and that the activities will not give rise to any significant pollution of the environment or harm to human health.”

The liquid waste would be injected to a depth of about 800m into the Ashdown formation, layers of sandstones, siltstones and mudstones.

Singleton is one of the UK's largest onshore oil producers

The EA said water in the Ashdown formation was saline and unsuitable for agriculture, industrial supply or drinking.

It would not support springs, watercourses or wetlands and the formation could not be used for geothermal energy, the EA said.

Opponents of onshore oil and gas operations raised concerns about IGas’s plans during a public consultation last year.

The Chichester area is heavily faulted and has been the centre of numerous small natural earth tremors, dating back to the 18th century.

They also said the operation threatened water quality in the chalk aquifer.

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In response, the EA said: “There is no immediate apparent viable pathways to shallower aquifers.

"We are therefore satisfied that the proposed discharge into the Ashdown formation will not impact on the shallower aquifers.”

The South Downs National Park Authority, which handles planning applications in the area, recently told IGas it did not have planning permission to import liquid waste from other sites for disposal at Singleton.

The company has said it does “not necessarily agree”.

IGas has defended its use of the Singleton site

IGas said there had been no changes to the operations at Singleton or to the composition of the water.

Singleton was the UK’s second largest onshore oil producer in 2020, based on data from the Oil and Gas Authority.

It extracted 2.4 per cent of UK onshore oil, behind the top producer, Wytch Farm, on 84.3 per cent.

The water cut – the proportion of formation water in the total fluid volume produced at a site – tends to increase as wells age.