Lot Blog 6

It sometimes seems as if the world is out to "get" the Lot. If motorways are built then the Lot sections are toll sections and the road will blast its way across beautiful causse land, ignoring all protestations. If railway stations are to be closed, or trains reduced, then you can be sure Lot stations will be involved, even if elsewhere in the country SNCF extol the green credentials of re-opening small stations.

And now the saga of nuclear waste has reared its ugly head and people have something else to protest about. Where better, after all, to bury nuclear waste than in the middle of a sparsely populated département whose economy is heavily dependent on tourism and agriculture, which is supposedly protected by a Parc Régional (which commissioned a geological survey that found against the proposal) and which is renowned for its tranquility and unspoiled beauty? You've guessed it.

Of the 181 communes identified by ANDRA (see below) as possible sites, only 50 have so far come out against the proposal, the latest being Gramat. You can keep up to date with which ones are accepting or declining on Jean Launay's site. All must reply by October 31st 2008.

Whether this waste will include any British waste now that EDF have bought their way into our own nuclear programme, or whether the UK will be left to bury its own in some equally beautiful environment (almost certainly) I know not.

There are currently three military sites in the département, one of which at Bèdes is known to store radioactive waste following experiments with depleted uranium weapons. Indeed it was thought that the stunningly beautiful river Ouysse might have been contaminated.

ANDRA is the French national radioactive waste management agency (Agence National pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs) and they are looking for a site in which to store low-level but long-lived waste.

Communes with geologically favoured land are being asked to volunteer to host the site in a shallow facility. Work would begin in 2015. Communes are being tempted - in an area of low employment - by development of the community, improved transport links and infrastructure and, of course, jobs. Some areas, elsewhere in France, that have accepted the waste are being showered with so much money - millions of euros - they hardly know how to spend it.

According to Greenpeace, ANDRA is a less-than-exacting organisation when it comes to storing nuclear waste. They apparently do not even have a complete inventory of sites and some of the ones they do know about are leaking.

Hopefully the remaining communes will resist the temptation to host these stores and vote to preserve their unique landscape.


The fire in the Channel tunnel has badly affected the running of Eurostar trains - no one as yet seems to find the date of September 11th in any way suspicious.

According to their website my own train to Lille had been cancelled. I phoned Rail Europe to exchange my ticket as television advertisements had suggested I might, only to be told that I had a non-refundable, non-exchangeable ticket. Well, yes, but I didn't know my train, booked before the fire, would be cancelled! We have been told by Eurostar that the timetable will be upgraded after September 30th - you may exchange it then if the train isn't running, they said.

On October 1st I rechecked the timetable and certainly more trains were running - but not mine. I phoned back. Friends had told me that even the trains that were running were delayed, so it was my intention, given these delays, to rebook my ticket via Paris, where there were plenty of trains to my destination, rather than just one at Lille. However, it seemed the goalposts had been moved. More nonsense about non-exchangeable tickets.

There was an earlier train, they said, finally, that ought to be running. OK, book me on that, I said. Oh no, because your ticket is non-exchangeable. You can take the train and you will not be charged, but you must come early on the day and change your ticket then.

As the normal check-in time for the train was around 0630, I wondered what time they would like me to arrive - 0500 perhaps, meaning a rise of 3.30 in order to reach St Pancras? A novel interpretation of customer care. Was there any guarantee of a seat when other refugees from cancelled trains may be fighting to get on the earlier train? No, but it should be all right. Hah! Where have I heard that before!

The upshot seemed to be that they were happy for me to travel on the earlier train without paying extra and I know I will travel on it (because otherwise I would have to rebook the entire journey at my own expense via Paris) but I cannot reserve a seat on it, even though I had a reserved seat on a train that isn't running.

I rebooked London-Lille at my own expense to ensure my seat and hopefully the train will arrive in time to catch the only onward connection to my destination, though with hordes of people trying to board at the last minute this must lead to extra delay.

At a time when we are all questioning corporate greed, lack of responsibility and accountability it is comforting that Rail Europe and Eurostar (the one is allegedly acting on the advice of the other) remain unmoved by the zeitgeist, effectively demanding that passengers on cancelled trains must pay twice for one journey, if they want to be sure of seat on another train. That should certainly help with fees to use the tunnel.

Whether the train will arrive in time to catch my connection and whether they will refund my costs - only time will tell. Watch this space.