I y al Decommissioning plO French Nukes -contents Comment Nuclear State, Police State 3 The Government's nuclear waste policy is in dis­ The erosion of civil liberties array. Sea dumping has been postponed for fur­ by Steve Martin. ther research, Billingham has been abandoned and News 4-6 the Orcadians are opposing ENSEC's sea dumping The Case for Coal 7 proposals for Stormy Bank. Against this A look at coal vs. nuclear by Rab Amos. background experienced 'Wally Watchers' will have N PT - No Peace Tomorrow (3) 8 noticed the C EGB supremo expressing his opinion Britain and Article VI by Jos Gallacher. on the problem to the Commons environment Calling All Subs 9 committee. He suggested storing high and inter­ Radio communications complex for mediate level wastes for a •couple of hundred Galloway? by Steve Martin. years• and discontinuing reprocessing of spent Decommissioning 1G-11 fuel. His reasons are that there is a surplus of u­ The need for legislation in the US ranium and plutonium in store making reproces­ by Steve Martin. sing the expensive option, and the urgency of nuc­ They're no Comin' and They're no Dumpin' 12 lear waste disposal has been exaggerated. If Sir The nuclear threat to Orkney Wally's opinion carries any weight, and past re­ by Frances McK ie. cords indicate that it does, then a change in policy Radwaste- the Need for Debate (1) 13 may be on the cards. (However, the CEGB may A review of the ICSU report just be using scare tactics to reduce their fuel by Don Arnott. cycle costs.) Nucleaire Non Merci 14 SCRAM is closely watching the waste debate Uneconomic French nuclear power and Don Arnott•s waste column (part 1 appears by Miriam Boyle and Mike Robinson. on page 13) will keep our readers up to date. Wind Energy 15 The Sizewelllnquiry is finally over. Frank Lay­ Recent technical developments field can have a rest before he begins to read 16 by Jamie Taylor. million words and produce his Report at the end Appropriate Technology 16-17 of the year. No such respite for the opposition Reviews 18-19 - FoE is preparing The Alternative Sizewell Re­ Diary, Little Black Rabbit 20 port for publication in the autumn, with the help of other individuals who were involved at the In­ Rab Amos is an NUM member of Monktonhall quiry. · Following the conclusion of our AG R series Colliery CND. in the last SCRAM journal, we intend to run a ser­ Jos Gallacher is a freelance researcher on pro­ ies on the Magnox stations starting next issue. liferation. Any reader with knowledge of their Magnox neigh- . Frances McKie is a member of the Dunters, the bour please get in touch with us. We hope to pro­ Orkney Environmental Concern Society. duce a pamphlet on the AGR's soon, so could any­ Don Arnott is a former Consultant to the 1nter­ one interested in buying a copy please contact national Atomic Energy Agency. us to give us an idea of the print run required. Miriam Boyle and Mike Robinson are lecturers at Manchester University Geography Dept. SCRAM Jamie Taylor is an electrical engineer specialis­ The SCRAM Annual General Meeting was held ing in wind energy research. at the Forth Street Offices on February 12th this year. Although attended by only 10 people, much This magazine is produced for the British Anti-Nuclear and was discussed and SCRAM's future seems secure. Safe Energy movements by the Scottish Campaign to Resist The interim steering committee appointed at the Atomic Menace (SCRAM). SCRAM, 11 Forth Street, Edinburgh EH 1 3LE. the emergency meeting in January was expanded Tel: 031 557 4283/4. and agreed to carry on until SCRAM manages to Editor: Steve Martin incorporate as a limited company. Steve•s Layout: Wilf Plum Typesetting: Rosie Bell appointment as full time worker was confirrtaec:l News Editor: George Baxter and it was agreed to contact the tax office. An­ Reviews Editor: Rosie Bell other worker to run the office systems is still des­ ISSN 0140 7340 Bi-monthly. perately required as the production of the Journal Articles, news shorts, letters etc are always welcome. is taking up most of the time which means that Deadline for next issue- articles, lrd May, news, 10th May. important administrative work is losing out. 2 SCRAM Journal April '85/May '85 Nuclear State Events during the miners' strike and - Ponting 2, may hammer it home. those of the past couple of months clear­ By not screening the 20/20 Vision ly indicate that the Police State is de­ programme on MI5 when it was scheduled finitely with us, and has been for some the IBA have performed a great service considerable time. The erosion of civil for the Freedom of Information Cam­ liberties is accelerating at an alarming paign. Many more people must have seen rate. Citizens involved in industrial dis­ it when it was eventually transmitted putes and those openly critical of on Friday 8th March than the probable government policy have been the targets original audience. The IBA banned the of surveillance, restrictive legislation original screening on the advice of their and even violence by servants of the lawyers that it might attract prosecution state. The whole issue of civil liberties under section 2. However, following the is moving itself to the top of the poli­ screening of the film in three cinemas tical agenda a~ with the Freedom of and the distribution of the tape by that Information Campaign receiving consid­ defender of the free Captain Richard erable backing from all political parties, Branson through Virgin record stores, on the height of the boundary fence or the days of ow secret laws seem to be and Sir Michael Havers' decision not to the colour of the walls. In fact the voice numbered. However, new legislation not risk political suicide by prosecuting so may not even be heard. Written submis­ yet on the Statute Books could be worse closely on the heels of the Ponting ac­ sions only may be requested, as in than our present laws. quittal, the IBA lifted their self-imposed France. Of particular concern are the Apart from the right to work, cher­ ban. proposals for the dumping of nuclear ished by the Conservatives during the The ban itself, and the subsequent waste. Ministers fear that the wastes miners' strike, there are other rights revelation of the content of the will continue to accumulate while the which have been ignored at best, and programme, whipped up a storm of pro­ inquiries hear evidence from a large crushed at worst. Road blocks erected test in Parliament and in the media, number of interested parties. There is during the strike are a blatant infringe­ which resulted in the appointment of one way to stop this happening, as hinted ment of the right of freedom of move­ Lord Bridge of Harwich to carry out an by Lord Flowers in the Royal Commis­ ment. This tactic was used against sup­ inquiry into phone tapping, or so we were sion report of 1976. Stop producing the porters of the Molesworth Peace Camp meant to believe. The remit of the in­ stuff until you know what to do with it, when the alert went out on the phone quiry was so strict as to make the whole and where to put it. We all agree that tree that eviction was imminent. Some exercise completely useless. No warrant Public Inquiries are not ideal methods people did manage to arrive only to find was issued in breach of the guidelines, of dealing with such serious issues, but a massive policlng operation like at the the report stated. This means either that the answer is to make them better and Orgreave coking works, or even Goose the report is not factually correct or to introduce public involvement in the Green, that surveillance was carried out without decision-making process at the beginn­ And now we learn that residents of knowledge of the Home Secretary of se­ ing, not to scrap them and push deci­ villages surrounding Molesworth are to veral governments. sions on people just because you have an impregnable majority in the House be issued with identification passes 'in Official Leaks the interests of good community rela­ of Commons. Because we won't accept tions' - the thin end of a substantial Another recent (official) leak, which it. wedge. Religious services at the site had may not initially seem to be connected On top of all this is the abolition of more police officers than worshippers, to civil liberties is the Cabinet's reported the Metropolitan Councils, Rate C:app­ when they were allowed at all, with the 'serious concern' about delays caused ing, banning of trades unions at GC HQ, carefully built chapel confined behind by public inquiries. lt is felt that allow­ the attempt to remove the funding of coils of barbed wire. Such images from ing public discussion on policy issues may the major opposition party and many behind the Iron Curtain would have at­ be a bad idea. Instead the suggestion is more. And don't forget Hilda Murrell. tracted vehement condemnation from to get general approval in Parliament Whoever murdered her, it was not a pet­ Cabinet ministers. Here Field Marshal for large and important developments ty burglar. When the truth is eventually Heseltine presided over the scene in full then to carry out a brief local inquiry known there is going to be one hell of battle dress! where objectors could voice their opinion a banana skin for someone! Official Secrets Steve Martin Then there is the Official Secrets Act, particularly Section 2.