1 Contents Comment

Stop T orness 3 The 29 March editorial in the 'Economist' How the recent T orness campaign has argued that while the oil glut lasts, there developed by STEVE MARTIN. should be heavy investment in nuclear power: News 4-6 Dounreay News 7 "the time to repair the roof is when the sun Chernobyl Reaction 8-9 is shining". On the 26 April the nuclear How the disaster affected this country roof was blown away when Chernobyl exploded and how officialdom has misinformed the public by LINSA Y STEPHENSON. the myth of "safe" nuclear energy. Far from The Way Forward 10-11 "getting stronger every day", the case for SCRAM's Ten Point Plan for a safe nuclear power has been unequivocally refuted. energy future by PETE ROCHE. Even the 'Economist' can change its mind: Risk Assessment 12-13 A demystification of the nuclear the 24 May editorial declared that we are industry's confusing language of risk not so dependent on nuclear power that "a by PETER FLOYD. decision to abandon it would cripple Dounreay News (continued) 14 civilisation"; the price of doing without Appropriate Technology 15 Combined Heat & Power 16-17 it is not unbearable. The solution to generate employment and reduce reliance on nuclear power Opinion polls throughout Europe show that by AORIAN A TKINSON. Man Fights Back ••••• 18 the people have rejected nuclear power. The The campaign to close Sellafield which politicians are following suit: it will win no has developed on the Isle of Man by votes. Governments from the Phillipines to ROWAN ROSS. Sweden are halting their nuclear Spot the Euphemism 19 A cartoon strip by OBERON programmes: they will have a head start in Little Black Rabbit, Listings 20 the race for a clean earth. Commitment to nuclear power is no longer symbolic of a nations prowess, it merely serves to expose a complacent allegiance to a barren utopia.

LINSA Y STEVENSON became active after the Chernobyl disaster. She has two children. In Europe only two Governments have stayed PETE ROCHE is a founder member of SCRAM faithful to the Nuclear god: France and the PETER FLOYD works with Environmental Resources UK. These are the only two countries with an Ltd. "independent" nuclear weapons capability. ADRIAN A TKINSON is the co-ordinator of SERA's CHP campaign. Spain maintains that it is cheaper to stop ROWAN ROSS is a member of the Isle of Man's construction until the plant is needed, campaign against Sellafield. than it is to complete and operate a plant OBERON are WILF PLUM and ANDY WISHART below optimum load factor; Austria is dismantling its Zwentendorf reactor; Holland has shelved its expansion plans; and in West Germany an extensive period of This journal is produced for the British anti­ Nuclear and Safe Energy movements by the navel contemplation is in progress, with Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace the possbility that a new government could (SCRAM) scrap much of the planned expansion.

Editor : Thom Dibdin News: George Baxter Yet the UK proceeds, as if in a vacuum, with Graphics: Wilf Plum T orness and Heysham; with THORP; with the Layout: Andy Wishart public inquiry at Dounreay; and with the Typesetting: Sarah Cantelo imminent ordering of Sizewell B. "The Way Rally Organiser: Steve M

2 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 Instollotlons Inspectorate wrote: "Although full details of the STOP TOR NESS! emergency arrangements hove not yet been submitted to the Nil, we A concerted campaign calling for the halt of the South of expect that the detailed plans wlll extend to ot least 1km from the Scotland Electricity Board•s (SSEB) Torness nuclear power station." After Chernobyl ot least station has developed since the Chernobyl disaster. It has 100,000 people were evacuated from been joined by the Lothian Regional Council, the four Kiev, o city some 80km from the station. District Councils within Lothian Region, the Scottish Area The Lothian and Borders Police National Union of Mineworkers {NUM) and the Edinburgh and Fire Boards ore particularly Evening News. STEVE MARTIN outlines the campaign. concerned about the minimal public protection which the plan provides. The Fire Brigade ore also worried The campaign was initiated by a NOT NEEDED that they don't hove the facilities group of anti-nuclear activists In for dealing with o Chernobyl-type Edinburgh who approached the Lothian At the Torness Public Inquiry in fire. Regional Council with Information 1974 Mr Tombs, then the Choir of A 1980 study by the Political on the imminent commisionlng of the SSEB, claimed that to fulfil Ecology Research Group indicated Torness. This followed a local future electricity demand "we would that o catastrophic accident at meeting In Ounbor, attended by need five large new power stations Torness could cause over 300 early about 150 people, which passed o to be either In operation or under deaths and 25,600 fatal cancers unanimous vote of "no confidence" construction by 1990 and with o within 30 years; and four million In the SSEB, who refused to turn further five or six power stations people from Edinburgh and Glasgow up. by the year 2000." may hove to be evacuated. Since The NUM called o press briefing, Demand was expected to double by Chernobyl the authors of the report with representatives from the 1985 and treble by 1995. However, hove said that the original figures environmental groups and all the the total number of units delivered may be underestimated. political parties (bar the Tories), to the system in 1985/6 was 20,865 which called for work on T orness to million compared with 19,220 million NOT CHEAP be halted and o study to be started in 1973/4. This represents on Increase to look at the viob!Uty of converting of only 8.5%. Torness has cost about £1,500m the plant to cool-firing. During this period the installed to build and will employ 600 full Lothian Region also hosted o capacity In Scotland Increased from time staff. It has been estimated press conference with the other 6,113MW to 7,940MW, o rise of about that about 2500 miners' jobs could councils, which coiled for the 30%. If more evidence were required go, together with another 1500 jobs construction to be halted. They one only needs to look at the point in the service sector, if Torness Instructed the Regional Solicitor of greatest demand on the system. comes on stream. There will also be to pursue legal methods to delay On 7 January 1986 this figure was job losses at Cockenzle cool-fired the plant's commissioning. -4,536MW; the overcapacity on that power station which may hove to day (surplus plant) was 75%; if close because of overcapacity on PUBLIC OPPOSITION Torness hod been commissioned the the system. figure would hove been 104%. Quite clearly Torness nuclear The Regional and East Lothian power station Is not the cheapest District Councils organised a public NOT SAFE way to generate electricity when meeting In Ounbor which attracted one takes all of these factors Into 400 people. Unions and opposition The safety or otherwise of the consideration, before one even groups were on the panel os well os plant has received much attention looks at actual generating, waste council members. In the woke of Chernobyl, and the management, and decommissioning The most significant contributor main focus has been the emergency costs. to the debate was Or Preston, the plan. So for only o "draft" pion There is o simple answer: STOP Deputy Choir of the SSEB. This has been produced. TORNESS NOW before we take on represented the first opportunity In o reply to SCRAM, o Deputy irrevocable step down the rood to o In many years for the public to Chief Inspector at the Nuclear nuclear wasteland. hear both sides of the Torness debate at one meeting, because the Board hod consistently refused to shore o platform with opposition groups. The third component of the Stop T orness campaign is the Edinburgh Evening News. On Friday 30 May the paper ran o one page editorial entitled "Put the brakes on Torness NOW". Two weeks later it published an opinion poll with o front page headline which screamed "YOU answer the nuclear question •.• NO!" Of the people in Edinburgh and East Lothian questioned, 70% did not wont the plant to go ahead (only 2% were undecided). The following week the views of ten MPs in the oreo were published: SEVEN of them ore bocklng the campaign. The opposition to T orness Is on three levels: need, safety and cost. The need argument con be clearly demolished by examining the SSEB's own Annual Reports. I PICTURE BY JOHN REIACH J SCRAM Journal June/July 1'/86 3 •News Leukaemia

The subject of leukaemia clus­ reay, not forgetting, of course, ters around nuclear establishments the notorious cluster around Sella­ is a controversial one. The nuclear field. Further confirmatory industry claims that many of the evidence has recently been provided alleged clusters have not been by a Scottish Office study.This proven and, even if they are, that shows that not only is the they can be put down to chance as leukaemia cluster around Dounreay can similar clusters distant from "extremely unlikely" to be a chance nuclear sites. They claim that phenomenon, but that there are radiation levels around the nuclear also higher than expected inciden­ establishments concerned are so low ces of leukaemia around Scotland's that even if the clusters do exist, other nuclear power stations: Chapel radiation could not be the cause. Cross and Hunterston. Such an attitude is disgrace- Most of the leukaemia victims fully irresponsible. have been children. The only proven It is known that radiation cause of childhood leukaemia is causes leukaemia. Indeed, for some radiation. lt is not therefore instance, they point out that ra­ leukaemias radiation is the only unreasonable to suggest that diation levels around Dounreay are known cause. Radiation also causes there probably is a link between lower than the background levels in other cancers; in a world where the the clusters and the proximity of Aberdeen. However, they are not so environment is becoming increas­ nuclear establishments. stupid that they fail to recognise ingly threatened by radioactive If this link does indeed exist the difference between background pollution both from military and then the implications could be radiation and radiation which is civil (ab)uses of nuclear power, it horrifying.If almost non-detectable inhaled or ingested; nor are they is vital that we try to establish levels of radiation exposure (so so stupid that they fail to the true effect of low levels of they tell us) are causing these appreciate that different mate­ exposure to nuclear fission leukaemias then they could also be rials produce radiation from products. causing other cancers which, be- nuclear establishments, as opposed About 1 in 4 of the population cause they are so much more common, to background radiation. The issue will develop cancer of some form or will never otherwise be detected. of background radiation is irrele­ other. If some environmental agent Indeed, nuclear establishments vant to this debate and the nuclear is going to cause an increase in could be killing hundreds of people industry knows it. cancer rates large enough to be a year and we might never know. It It is also somewhat disinge- detected, then thousands, even tens also means that the death toll from nuous of the nuclear industry to of thousands of people would have accidents like at Chernobyl could compare leukaemia clusters with to die before the link was establi­ run into the hundreds of thousands. leukaemia rates amongst the nuclear shed. This is why leukaemia It is therefore of paramount workforce. After all, the leukaemias clusters are so significant. importance that the link between have mainly affected children and I Leukaemia is rare, so a handful of nuclear energy and leukaemia clus­ am not aware that there are many of cases above the normal levels is ters be thoroughly examined.lf a them in the industry's employ! detectable and can act as a warning relationship is established then There is clearly cause for to us. Of course, the vagaries of the source of these leukaemias must concern and a thorough investigation chance mean that perhaps no signi­ also be established. Only then will is urgently needed. The nuclear ficance should be attached if there we be able to obtain a fuller pic­ industry is using theories to dis­ are occasional clusters here and ture of the likely health miss the facts. Their response is, there but, when a number of consequences of living near to perhaps understandable; it may clusters hove a common link then nuclear establishments and of nuc­ well be that the facts will dismiss alarm bells should start ringing. lear accidents. the nuclear industry. lt is now clear that a common To suggest that leukaemia link has been established. Clusters clusters might indicate a much more of leukaemia have been found around serious problem is not being alar­ a variety of nuclear establish- mist. On the contrary, I am greatly 113NFL play gamesl ments; both military, as at alarmed by the casual attitude that Aldermaston, Burghfield and Rosyth, the nuclear industry takes about The latest edition of BNFL News and civil, as at Sizewell and Doun- this important subject. For carries a competition to find the best suggestion to help BNFL im­ prove its communication with the public. Not, one would think, a Phillipino's say NO difficult test. SCRAM has one tip for any employee hoping to win the first AQUINO REJECTS NUCLEAR POWER prize of a £600 holiday with Thomas Cook: improve the level of The Philippine Government's Westinghouse deny that any information given to the Press decision to mothball its only payment was made "directly or Office. When SCRAM contacted them nuclear power plant could be an indirectly" to President Marcos,and recently to find out about the expensive one for the builders, claim that Dessini recieved only Amateur Athlectic Board's fine de­ Westinghouse Electric. $.17 million. This payment was made cision to reject BNFL's offer of The plant, sited on the slopes in connection with Westinghouse's sponsorship, we were told that BNFL of a dormant volcano near Manila, succesful bid for the contract has spent "just over £200 000 on and only 50 miles from an earth­ against rivals General Electric. sponsorship during the last year". quake fault line, has been the Even if the bribery charges do Patently untrue. As reported in subject of allegations of bribery not stick, Mr Saguisag, chairman of SCRAM 53, BNFL has given "almost and corruption in the ousted Marcos the Philippines Nuclear Power Plant £900 000 to local projects". regime. According to reports in the Commission has stated that since the If you phone up the Press New York Times, Marcos received the plant will not be commissioned, Office, do not believe all you majority of an $80 million "comm­ Westinghouse will still have to pay hear; if a PR exercise can be so ission" paid by Westinghouse to its back the £1.54 billion cost of the much understated, how much more so agent Hermini Dessini. plant. radioactive discharges. 4 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 A Friend for Sella field? We could be obout to witness an plutonium for nuclear weapons at unusual, if not unique, phenomenon: Sellofield, and o switch towards the formation of a protest movement the long-term storage of nuclear in favour of the nuclear industry. waste. They hove also agreed to The seeds of the Friends of make urgent investigations into Sellafield Society were planted at alternative employment options. The the A.G.M. of the Copeland_Conser ­ Council is also calling for better vative Association. Environmental management, less secrecy and more groups, and particularly the investment to contain pollution. notional media, ore viewed with "After Chernobyl nothing will ever resentment. The aims of the organ­ be the same" sold one Councillor. The planned thermal oxide re­ isation ore to promote support for Meanwhile, BNFL's new policy of processing plant at Sellofield, Sellofield, counter false or public openness has not changed the known os THORP, received a boost on misleading statements mode by company's secretiveness and para­ the 24th. of April. The South of environmental groups, and assist noia on the factory floor. A fitter Scotland Electricity Boord and its . the tourist industry by drawing was recently sacked for speaking to English counterpart, the CEGB, attention to the beautiful and the press after he was contaminated signed o contract worth £1600 healthy environment of West and another worker was threatened million to reprocess spent fuel Cumbria. with disciplinary action after he from the second generation Advanced Cumbria County Council do not attended o demonstration at o local Gas-cooled Reactors (AGR). quite se~ it the same way. They NATO base to protest at the bombing The deal comes just a month wont o ban on production of of Libya. after the House of Commons select committee urged BNFL to pubUsh a study on the economic and employment consequences of abando­ ning THORP. Previous contracts, with 28 electric companies in 8 foreign countries, to reprocess fuel at THORP, have oH been on a "cost plus" bosis, (the cost of reprocessing plus a profit), but the ~ritlsh contracts ore fixed­ cost. According to evidence given in the Sizewell inquiry, the capi­ tol cost of THORP has risen some 60% in real terms since 19n . The electricity boards hove been negotiating with BNFL for some time about the reprocessing of spent AGR fuel. It Is understood that they have been holding out for o fixed cost contract, while BNFL would obviously prefer the cost plus arrangement. The signing of this deal would indicate o certain amount of desperation on BNFL 's part, coming os it does at o time when they ore increasingly being seen os the "dirty end of the

..,,...... , , ..n at Seascole, Cumbria, votes to form the Friends nuclear industry"• defend the continuation of the Nuclear Industry. At the some time os the contract was signed the electricity boords announced the construction of o £200 million dry store for spent IAnother err fuel. This is to be used as " insu­ rance" in case the THORP plant Human error, responsible for the Roncho Seco reactor in fails. It wlll be able to hold up the majority of nuclear accidents California were reduced to o state to o years worth of spent fuel. so far, Is the subject of o new of bewilderment in March 1978 when study by a group of experts. the main computer went totally The National Centre of Systems beserk. A technician had dropped a Reliability (NCSR) ore inviting light bulb behind a control panel, pressure and temperature to "go up senior executives from both Govern­ whilst changing it. The 50 cent ond down Uke a yo-yo". It took ment and Industry to examine ways bulb fell across computer links, seventy minutes to regain control of reducing human error In high causing valves to open and close of of the reactor. tech fields. their own accord, and the reactor The fact that both the accident Many errors stem from Inaccur­ at Chernobyl and the one at Three ate or misinformed orders from Mile Island were caused by a human management, leading to unconscious error, shows only too well the mistakes and potentially catastro­ fragile link between humans, tec­ phic results. False or hnology and chance. The new study misinterpreted data readings can be group will Investigate this link, compounded by a workforce trained It believes that techniques ore now to react rather than act. available for reducing human error The NCSR study will try to and improving the reliability of change this, but experience shows operating systems that could that accidents are caused by successfully be applied at manage­ unpredictable, and sometimes ment level.Time will tell; but con astonishing, events. Operators at we afford to wait? SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 5 I News Food

There was a small sodium fire on The fallout from Chernobyl is contaminated. 19 March in the Prototype Fast having a devastating effect on the Radionuclides hove a "biological Reactor (PFR) building. Some 90 to agricultural industry throughout half life" which is different to 100 grammes of sodium leaked from a the world. In Britain, the sale of the half life of the element. This coupling in an emergency cooling milk plummeted during May and, biological half life varies with loop, and caught fire. A larger fire, despite statements from officials different types of contamination involving 15 kg. of sodium, occurr- that lamb is still safe to eat, the and animal. It can only be ed on 19 June. Both fires were only people who ore still doing so calculated with accuracy if the contained, but could have sparked are government ministers and their animal has recieved a one off off a far more serious accident. unwitting families. "spike", in the case of continued Sodium, which combusts on contact The Europe wide milk surplus has ingestion the contamination will with both air and water, is used not been thrown away, but has been reach a plateau as the amount taken in the primary and secondary turned into butter, causing a in equals the amount excreated. cooling circuits of the PFR. massive 3 million tonne increase to Contamination from the cloud of UKAEA-Dounreay claim that mis­ the EEC butter mountain. Ironically, fallout was not a one off affair. labelling of fuel was the cause of it is expected that a fair proport­ It has entered the top soil and is one of the potentially most serious ion of this excess will be sold to being continuously taken into accidents in recent years when 8 the USSR. grass as systemic contamination. kg. of plutonium accumulated in the Fears that butter made with The most affected parts are the new PFR reprocessing plant there. They blame BNFL at Sellafield, who ad­ mitted human error was responsible for the mislabelling. The mishap occured in early 1984, when Dounreay tried to reprocess scraps of incompletely manufactured, plutonium-bearing fuel. These did not dissolve properly. This led to an accumulation of plutonium, est­ imated at less than 8 kg. by the Dounreay management, but claimed to be as much as 25 kg. by former Dounreay employees. The UKAEA explained to SCRAM that the pluton­ ium was not recovered for 11 months because "commercial" operation of the plant, and a desire to minimise waste production, led them to wait until their next reprocessing cam­ paign started in 1985. The UKAEA tests fuel prior to contaminated milk will also be shoots to which young lambs are reprocessing. We have not been radioactive have been denied by the particularly partial. Any animals able to assertain how this relativ­ Governments intervention board, who that are still grazing out in the ely insoluble fuel passed through are responsible for buying up open will still be eating the net. Cause for comfort? surplus agricultural produce. The contaminated grass. Government Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in statements indicate that they expect Cumbria have confirmed this to the levels in lamb to fall away in SCRAM; apparently rodionuclides the imminent future. The ITE do not IAGR are water soluble and will thus believe that this is the case. remain in the buttermilk which is The level at which British lamb Britains' Advanced Gas cooled drained of in the churning process. has been withdrawn from sale is Reactors (AGR) have been beleagured The buttermilk is sometimes 1 000 becqurels per kilo (bpk). No with faults and accidents over thrown away, although it is often food with a level higher than 600 recent months. The AGR is in direct fed to pigs. If this has been the bpk is allowed to be exported into competition with the PWR to replace case, then the pigs will become this. country. the rapidly deteriorating Mognox stations. There are 14 AGR's in operation or under construction, including the one at Torness in E. 1 Lies Lothian. A generic fault has been found The National Radiological The Government has been very in the AGR's at Heysham, Lancashire Protection Board are not above a critical about the mis-information and Hartlepool, Cleveland. The few "white lies" to allay public eminating from Russia about the vertical steel cables in the fears, if Fronk Cook MP is to be Chernobyl disaster. stressed concrete shields surround­ believed. In the House on the 14 of ing the reactor are not as taut as May he reported that they had they should be. informed him: "It would have been a An explosion at Heysham caused precaution to have kept children it to shut down at the begining of inside on Saturday when it rained••• May. Cooling oil was ignited in the But that is in retrospect. Try not transformer when on electrical to put that statement out because fault caused a spark. people could be frightened by it." Meanwhile, the CEGB plan to On the 8th. of Mby Michael carry out a four year, £100 million Ancram, Scottish minister for the refurbishment programme on Hartle­ Environment said: "There is no need pool and Heysham 1. They claim that for anyone to destroy or wash if this does not happen then the clothing after being out in the reactors will not be able to rain, pregnant women and children operate at full load. do not need to stay indoors". 6 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 Dounreayl BNFL end the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) plan to build a new reprocessing plant for spent fuel from fast reactors carried out a detailed costing. Highland Regional Council have The plant, known as EDRP, will be sited at Dounreay on the produced some castings: £ 130m is north coast of Scotland. The plans for this second Sellafield are needed to build a port and roil­ currently being examined at a "Public Local Planning Inquiry" head at Scrabster. However, no which started on 7th. April in Thurso, headed by Alexander Bell. cost comparison with the Cromarty Firth ports is available. As we go to press, the inquiry has been adjourned for two weeks. The inquiry will go into recess on 18th. July and reopen on 22nd. UNDERPLA YING WASTE Sept. Space constraints require that we present only the edited highlights below. We hope to report more fully in our next issue. Under cross-exarrination the UKAEA would not admit that EDRP SAFETY ASPECTS that the "short-list of preferred was part of a "large nuclear port options" is not binding. programme" and that waste manage­ Evidence on plant safety occup­ Speculation that Hunterston is the ment problems should be dealt with ied about a week at the Inquiry. A Scottish port was discounted by the before it commences (as specified preliminary safety report was not then Transport Secretary, Nicholas in Government waste management submitted as the plans available Ridley. policy). They believe that "the were not sufficiently detailed. The Highland Regional Council Government has made it clear that This was despite the Developer's reaffirmed its support for EDRP, they wish the UK to continue with a belief that they have given the although it would prefer a Caith­ substantial development programme Scottish Secretary adequate ness port to be used. Possibly to for the fast reactor". information on which to make a ensure that the Wick rail line It is the normal story of the decision. remains open. nuclear industry's faith in its The impact of an accident at the A rail link will not now be problem-solving capabilities: as existing fast reactor on the rest built as part of the Dornoch Firth the Reporter put it "the test is of the site was not taken too !:!ridge since the Government will whether we con have any confidence seriously: glib assurances were not subsidise it. This jeopardises in these facilities being provided." offered. Evacuation plans are the Wick line on which fuel and circulated to a very limited number waste would travel to and from WASTE TRADE of people. In the event of an Dounreay: there would be too few accident, the 35 000 population of nuclear transports to maintain the Mr. Morphet, the witness for the the Orkney and Shetland islands financial viability of the line. Department of Energy, stated that would be evacuated by air - hardly The objectors succeeded in get­ the Government expects High Level an easy feat. These facts have drawn ting the Developers' study of Waste to be returned to its country criticism. transport options released, but the of origin: assurances would be The general view of the objectors page on port options had been sought to ensure that "the Govern­ is that the application is pre- removed. Central Region entered the ment of the foreign customer places mature and ill-conceived. Inquiry when they learnt that other no obstacles in the way of exer­ ports were being considered and cising of the options". OVERPRICED JOBS attempted to adjourn the inquiry in The proportion of waste which order to submit evidence: were should be returned has yet to be EDRP is a familiar ease of jobs refused. established. Mr. Morphet suggested being bought at any price: a Par­ that, as far os Low and Inter­ liamentary Answer has revealed the mediate Level wa!.tes are concerned: cost to be £300m excluding waste "it may be sensible to substitute management and transport facilities an equivalent quantity, in radio­ (Jan. 1985 prices). A quarter of logical terms, of higher level this costing consists of "volume waste." reduction plant" for nuclear waste, and storage facilities for all the PHANTOM FLASKS waste produced. Mr. Allardiee, of the UKAEA, The flasks to transport the asserted that EDRP would maintain spent fuel have not yet been desig­ the excellence of the Dounreay site ned. When questioned on flasks, and would provide a bridge to UKAEA witness Mr. Brown, was only future projects. During cross­ aware of conceptual designs for examination, Mr. Blumfield, Doun­ sodium-cooled flasks, and although reay's Director, said that he the UKAEA did not favour them, he wanted to see a commercial fast could not rule out their use in the reactor built at Dounreay, although future. Sodium flasks are believed the UKAEA would not be drawn on to be in operation in France so the subject of a nuclear park there. WHAT COST TRANSPORT they can be introduced in this The Joint Island Councils argued country immediately provided they PORT SELECTION WIDENS that the cost of transport facil­ meet IAEA safety guidelines. ities is material to the Inquiry in None of the flasks under dis­ The developers have to prove that the cost may affect the feasi­ cussion at the Inquiry have been that transport links to and from bility of transport options. This subject to Department of Transport Dounreay can be found which are was accepted by the Reporter: "some safety testing. Confusion emerged broadly acceptable in planning rough comparison... to the near- over the integrity of flasks in terms. Although the developers est half million, is what we ore deep water. One civil servant will not commit themselves to one talking about. I would not go much believed a plutonium flask would specified route, they implied that further •.• " implode at 1OOm depth, but his they would chose from a list of The Developers accept that the deputy contradicted him two days four named ports. The revelation capital costs of Scrobster ore later by saying that the flask that a Scottish port outside the greater than for the Cromarty would remain intact at lOOm. Highlands, and some seven English Firth, and that there ore capacity parts, are now being considered const.raints on using Barrow-in­ aroused great anger. This means Furness. They claim not to hove Ctd. p.14

SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 7 cells which are dividing they are causing damage by destroying or Chernobyl Reaction altering the genetic material of the cell. This is the origin of radiation-induced abnormalities, In the confusion that followed the Chernobyl disaster, few mutations and cancer. You could think of the particles people, if any, knew what the effects of the fallout would of energy as bullets which are be, or what precautions to take. LINDSEY STEVENSON being fired in random directions. was one such person. Here she recounts how she found out You may stop a bullet in a part of what precautions she could have taken, and what to do if your body where it does not cause much damage and your body may re­ the worst happens again. cover, for instance, radiation skinburn. The skin is a tissue which is continually replacing it- On Sunday 4th May, when Scotland hove experienced. Should Hunterston self and will recover from lay enveloped in the cloud of radio­ experience on accident of the some radiation burn if exposure ceases. activity from Chernobyl, I phoned dimensions os Chernobyl, then we, You may, however, be hit in a vital the Glasgow office of the Notional living so close, would be in a very organ and there is no way you can Rodiologicl Protection Board. I perilous situation. (Superimpose a hope to recover. This is the wonted to know whether I should mop of Scotland on one of Russia, situation when cellular damage re­ suspend breast-feeding my son for a with Hunterstone over Chernobyl.) sults in cancers or genetic de- few days because of the extra Should a nuclear bomb explode, then fects. One bullet can kill or do radiation he would recieve through the fallout would be quite serious damage, so con one particle my milk. The question was not one different and for more lethal. of energy. This is why there is no that the NRPB (Glasgow) hod even I first learnt that radio-­ such thing os a "safe dose" or considered. I was refered to their activity does not work like other radiation. main office in England. The person poisons. We know that if we take To understand the probabilities I spoke to there listened politely too much of a poison such os lead, of damage implied in the phrases and did not hesitate with his reply, it will build up in our bodies "safe levels" and "lethal doses" "Carry on breast feeding with until, at a certain level, we the analogy with gunfire con be confidence." Perversely, I felt become ill. If we continue to take carried further. If firing is occa­ less confident. He was too prompt, in the poison we eventually die. sional and widely spaced, you may too unhesitating. The talk of "minimum doses" and walk right through a firing range I felt I needed to know enough "safe levels" from official to be able to form my own opinion, agencies gives the impression that and not be hit. As the frequency of or hove confidence in his. radiation works in the same way. firing increases, so too does your There followed a week of quest­ This is not true. A "lethal dose" chance of being hit. There comes a ions, the replies to which varied of radiation means what it says, point at which being hit is inevit­ from the straight forward "don't but when dealing with lower levels able and a further point at which know", through the confused and of radiation you have to think of so many bullets are hitting you contradictory to the downright levels of probability of ill effect that one is bound to strike a vital wrong and misleading. At lost I rather than a level at which toxi­ organ. This lost is what the phrase found the answers I needed to begin city occurs. This is because of the a "lethal dose" means. The phrase to understand what was happening, bosic nature of a radio-active "safe level" really means that your something of the implications to us particle. chance of being hit in a vital spot and our children, and some infor­ A radio-active atom contains by radiation is less than 100% mation about preventative measures extra particles of energy which it certain - it may be only 1% or for next time. I even found out loses over a period of time (radia­ whatever scientists hove decided is whether I should hove continued to tion). These particles of energy a level of probability acceptable breast-feed. shoot away from the atom. If they to them. In other countries these What follows is only applicable pass through the body of an organ­ levels of probability of damage to a repetition of the fallout we ism (plant or animal) and encounter regarded as acceptable hove been reduced as more has been learnt about radiation. Levels regarded os acceptable in this country are now five times higher than the new levels in America and three times higher than in Germany. In no country, however, is the much high­ er susceptibility of radiation to pregnant and lactating mothers and children, been taken into con­ sideration when setting acceptable levels of radiation. Half-life is a term which was much used in reports about the constituents of the cloud. The half-life of a radioactive substance is the time it takes to lose half its energy. For instance, Iodine 131 has a half life of eight days. This means that after eight days it has lost half its radiation. After another eight days it loses half as much again, that is, a quarter of its original radiation. After another eight days it has only an eighth of its original radiation left and so it continues until it has lost all its radiation. The types of energy particle emitted by a substance are also 8 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 important. Alpha particles can only IF ONE )(•1\AYCOUL,. travel a very short distance and 8& J>A~Hit(IU$ 1 TH,N are unlikely to cause much damage SUU'LY CH!Wliii08YL···· unless they are inside you very close to a vulnerable cell. Beta / particles can travel a lot further and do more damage, but again you need to have them inside you. Gamma rays are like x-rays and to a less- er extent like cosmic rays (which come from outer space); they can be very damaging. Fortunately for us, water-~yci!11.~T~hrer~eLUw~a-s~a:l-so_._a_..~~~~p~re~s~eLn~t~a~nd~p~aJr~t-ic_u_l_a-rl~y~t-he_y______J our atmosphere partially protects us from the cosmic rays, but un­ small amount of strontium 90 in the should be kept in if it is wet. fortunately not from the man-made cloud. The body treats this as They should not be allowed to play ones. calcium and absorbs it into the on grass or in puddles. After being The hazards of radioactivity are bone, where it remains fixed for outside they should wash their far greater for foetuses and child­ life. exposed skin thoroughly and they ren under the age of sixteen As a result of the fall-out it should be bathed and their clothes because they ore growing so rapid­ is known that there will be an washed every day. ly. Many cells in their bodies are increase in cancers, particularly Finally, what was the answer to dividing and ore therefore suscep­ thyroid cancers, and cancers of my original query, "Should 1 suspend tible to radiation damage. The childhood amongst those children breast-feeding for a few days?" It risks are at their greatest, as still in utero and increased number was not an easy question to answer always, for the embryo in the first of cancers among our present child- because it is certain that the three months after conception, but ren as they become young adults. child is receiving an increased to illustrate just how susceptible There will also be more subtle dose of radiation, but on balance, to damage from radiation the genetic damage which will not become the protective factors which the developing child is. Or.Alice obvious for one or more generations. child is receiving tip the scales Stewart of the University of Official figures of the damage have in favour of continuing. Whether Birmingham estimates that one x-ray got to "guestimates" because nobody you continue "with confidence" is in late pregnancy can initiate a has any previous experience of such up to you as a parent, but how much childhood cancer, the point being fall-out· confidence can any of us have while that any exposure to radiation, An aspect of the fall-out to there are, still operating, however small, is dangerous. which little publicity has been A child in utero is exposed to given, is that it has not gone Hunterston, Hinkley Point, Doun­ radiation directly through the away. The immediate crisis situation reay, Winfrith, Chapelcross, Ounge­ mothers body wall and also from of heavily contaminated milk and ness, Windscole, Brodwell, Heyshom, radioactive substances absorbed by undrinkable rainwater has passed, Sizewell, Wylfo, Calderhall, the mother and passed across the but the longer lived radioactive Trawsfynydd, Oldbury, Berkeley, placenta. The placenta does not substances are now free in our Hartlepool and Torness (starts filter out any radioactive subst­ environment and already passing ft•!"llinn Julv 7th). ance. A breast-fed child may re­ into the food chains and water ceive in the mothers milk any cycle. This means that we will radioactive substance which the receive continual small doses of mother absorbed into her body. The radiation from our food and our lactation process does not act as a environment. The question of "hot­ filter or confer any protection spots" is relevant here because against radiation. .agricultural produce from these Because of the chemical process­ areas will have a particularly high es within the human body, certain level of contamination. This has substances are concentrated into already been amply illustrated with particular organs. Iodine is the banning of lamb from Wales and concentratd into the thyroid gland Cumbria. It is worth mentioning because the gland needs it to also, when considering environmental function. Iodine 131 was one of the contamination, that official state­ principal constituents of the cloud ments about natural "hot spots" from Chernobyl. Once absorbed by (areas of naturally occuring the thyroid it cannot be displaced. relatively high radiation) do not The chemical produced by the thyroid really have much meaning in the gland into which iodine is bound, context of fall-out. Natural radia­ is used all over the body in various tion is stable in the environment processes, but of particular interest and unlikely to enter the food here, is that it is involved in the chain. Man-made radiation enters maintenance of lactation and by the body where it will do most this means radioactive iodine be­ damage. comes concentrated into milk. There is nothing we can do about Caesium was present in the cloud the radiation we hove already recei in some quantity. 'It has a half- ved, and will continue to receive, life of 30 years and emits beta from the Chernobyl fall-out. Should particles and gamma rays. it Is a the situation recur there are a few measures we con take. The first is substance which makes Its way into Areas of the UK within a 50-mile the food chain in both animal and to take iodine before exposure to fall-out. By taking Iodine the radius of current nuclear power vegetable produce. It becomes dis­ stations. tributed throughout the body which thyroid gland is flooded and unable thinks it is potassium. It Is to pick up any of the radioactive deposited particularly in the muscles iodine. After fall-out has A total of 38 reactors at 17 and the genitals. The body can occurred fresh milk and dairy products nuclear power stations in Britain excrete Caesium in between 40 to ore better avoided, despite official with another 330 worldwide. Not' to 100 days, but the Caesium does not assurances os to their safety. mention the fact that there are then disappear. It makes its way Children should be kept indoors as between 50 and 60 thousand nuclear back into the food chain and the far as possible while the cloud is warheads!

SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 9 The Way Forward Nuclear power stations can not be shut down over night; but it will be possible to phase them out before the end of this century. This phased aproach allows time to develop the safe energy options. PETE ROCHE outlines SCRAM s proposals for the way forward in the form of a ten point plan.

Increasing numbers of people ore T orness has been a focus . of the anti­ opposed to nuclear power and, after nuclear movement for much of its 12 year Chernobyl, calls have been mode to close life; shutting it would be a way for the down existing stations. An anti-nuclear Government to say 11 Yes - we are going to 11 policy is now seen as a definite vote pay more attention to public opinion • winner. The Liberal and Labour Parties now Sizewell and the planned nuclear power hove policies of halting the nuclear prog­ programme should be abandoned immediately. ramme. But with the SDP remaining fairly silent on the issue, it is unclear exactly (2) THE MAGNOX STATIONS SHOULD BE what an Alliance Government would do. The DECOMISIONED Labour Party Shadow Cabinet have drawn up a policy which, on the face of it, is an A timetable should be drawn up for· excellent leap forward, but it still decommissioning the Magnox reactors as soon leaves room for fudging and policy rever­ as possible. None of them have any secondary sals when memories of Chernobyl have begun containment and may, therefore, be less safe to blur. than Chernobyl. What we need is a strategy for the transition from a nuclear-based energy (3) AGR'S MUST BE CLOSED DOWN BY THE policy to one which relies on safe, clean END OF THE CENTURY and appropriate forms of energy. The stra­ tegy must be seen to be achievable in the The economics of spending another £1 OOm short to medium term and able to attract on two of the three most recently completed the support of political parties, trade AGR's should be reviewed. unions, and the community in general. Although the operating AGR's do have a Below is the strategy which SCRAM will concrete containment vessels, the safety of support in the run up to the next General these stations, along with their environ­ Election, in the form of a ten point mental and economic implications, should be plan:- reviewed. This information should be used to determine how much longer these stations should operate for. Another consideration (1) TORNESS AND HEYSHAM B SHOULD would have to be the timetabling of decom­ NOT BE COMMISSIONED missioning work, so that it was not happening all at once. We might expect that The economic implications of converting all of them would have been closed down them to coal or using some of the non­ before the end of the century. nuclear components elsewhere should be Spent fuel from AGR's should be stored investigated. If T orness is commissioned in dry-stores, either built on site, or at as a result of the intransigence of the Sellafield. current Government, it should be decommis­ sioned by a new Government because of:- (4) HALT MAGNOX REPROCESSING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE (a) The severe problems which it will cause to the Scottish Coal Industry. As soon os all Mognox fuel which needs to be reprocessed os a result of corrosion, (b) The alarming overcapacity in has been reprocessed, the plant should be electricity generating capacity in shut down. Other Magnox spent fuel should Scotland. be kept in dry-storage.

(c) The need for the new Government to (5) THORP SHOULD BE CANCELLED make a clear gesture to both the anti­ nuclear movement and the public in Construction of THORP should be general. abandoned immediately. There is no need for 10 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 an economic reappraisal as the Labour Shadow Cabinet has suggested. All foreign spent fuel and waste should be returned.

(6} SELLAFIELD TO BE A CENTRE OF EXCELLANCE IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

Sellafield should become a centre for research and development into nuclear waste management, the decommissioning of reactors, dry storage of spent fuel and other functions as may be required. agency would be required. CHP and energy conservation both lend themselves to more (7} ABANDON FAST REACTOR RESEARCH local control. Local Authorities should be given powers to set up Energy Boards to Fast reactor research should be abandoned. oversee the implementation of energy­ Plans for a European Demonstration Reprocess­ efficiency policy and plan the introduction ing Plant should be buried in an engineered of renewable energy. It may also be concrete trench. Dounreay's existing reactor necessary to set up a National Energy should be decommissioned. The Dounreay site Efficiency Agency to oversee local energy is ideally located for a renewable energy planning. Certain sections of the Depart­ research centre, specialising in wave power. ments of environment, Transport and Industry could be amalgamated with the De­ (8) IMMEDIATE CHP PROGRAMME partment of Energy to form the Department of Energy Efficiency. Perhaps a Royal All lead city schemes for Combined Heat Commission or Select Committee should be and Power should be started as soon as set up to gather the views of interested possible, ie Edinburgh, Belfast and parties to find the most acceptable Leicester. Newcastle, Sheffield and London institutional framework for a non-nuclear should be added to the list. Planning energy policy. should also start for schemes in other A switch away from nuclear power should major urban areas, such as Birmingham, be carried out without loss of employment. Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. An In reality a switch of resources to energy­ experimental scheme in a smaller town would efficiency and renewables would create more also be a good idea. For example some work jobs overall, but there would obviously be has already been done in Stornoway. some problem areas. The 30,000 workers in the UK power (9} MAJOR ENERGY CONSERVATION engineering industry would have improved PROGRAMME job security from a CHP programme. The workers at Sellafield and Dounreay would be A major energy conservation programme uniquely qualified to deal with nuclear should be implemented - with particular waste management, and de-commissioning attention paid to local authority housing work. Abandonment of nuclear power would stock and energy-efficiency grants for low mean that we would have no further use for income households. the fuel fabrication and enrichment plants at Springfield and Capenhurst. The UK (10) INCREASE RENEWABLE ENERGY should withdraw from URENCO and halt all RESEARCH FUNDING trade in nuclear fuel materials and products. Renewable energy research funding should be substantially increased immediately. A rapid programme of wave power development The ten point plan has been in the back could provide important work for the shipyards. of our minds for a long time. It is regretable that it took the death of at The above plan will obviously have major least 25 people to bring us to a position implications for the institutions which decide where these aims now appear to be our energy planning. The UKAEA and BNFL achievable. By guaranteeing that there could, for example, be amalgamated into a will be no forced redundancies, and that Nuclear Waste Agency, with representatives the policies will eventually lead to more on the Board from trade unions and environ­ jobs, and a safer future for us all, the mental groups. A new renewable energy plans could achieve very wide public support. SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 11 The Risk Assesment Model Works as Risk Assessment follows: HAZARD IDENTIFICATION The hazard is a release of ra­ dioactivity. It is important to differentic;~te between planned and ac:c:idental releases, as many indus­ tries discharge low concentrations ,f hazardous material into the environment and the nuclear indus­ try is no exception. These "normal" discharges c:reate risks and the 1 in 30 million figure quoted above refers to the risk from normal operations. Of c:ourse normal operations may turn out to be quite hazardous and need to be changed. The plans to neatly stac:k drums of radioactive waste at the West German Asse dis­ posal site is a relevant example: operators were exposed to far greater radiation levels than en­ visaged due to the time taken in Prominent in the jargon of the Nuclear Industry is the term the stacking operation. As a result 11 11 Risk Assesment • This article is based on a paper presented the drums were simply heaped, thus by PETER FLOYD to the National conference on Radioactive eliminoting the design intention of easy retrieval of portic:ular drums Waste Dumping, which was held at Bedford in April. It aims lf required. to dernistify the confusing and often misused language of risk. HAZARD ANALYSIS Risk Values are often used to evaluate After the war the sc:ienc:e of There is always the possibility the safety of the nuclear fuel "reliability analysis" was developed of ac:c:idents or "alternative evol­ c:yc:le. Typical figures, ac:c:ording in the fields of defence communica­ ution scenarios" and "disruptive to the UK Atomic: Energy ~uthority, tions and aircraft reliability. In scenarios" •. Hazard analysis iden­ for the annual risk of death include: the 1970s industry began to explore tifies the potential ac:c:idents, Canc:er 1 in 400 these mathematical aids to improve analyses the . routes to the ac:c:ident Road ac:c:idents 1 in 7000 plant reliability, and then opera- and estimates their likelihood. Radiation from UK tor safety. The mid-70s saw the Without detailed designs it is nuclear industry 1 in 30 development of techniques for eval­ difficult to carry out a hazard million. uating risks to members of the analysis, but some ac:c:idents c:an be The purpose of this article is to public:. postulated and background work c:an explain how risk values are derived By 1980 the c:lassic: model had be started. Possible ac:c:idents at and what they mean. emerged and is the basic: method of waste repositories include fires, Risk is defined as "the likeli­ examining the risks from hazardous concrete containment failure, site · hood of a specified (adverse) c:on­ activities: flooding, and the incorrect pl .. c:e­ sequenc:e". For example: ment of drums; accidents involving "the risk of being struc:k by • hazard identification; lightning is 1 c:hanc:e in 10 • hazard analysis; million per year". • c:onsequenc:e analysis; Individual risks are often evaluated • risk determination; for those at most risk or, in nuc:lear • risk evaluation; terminology, for members of a c:ri­ • improvements. tic:al group. Risks are sometimes expressed as soc:ietal risk, whic:h The c:hronologic:al development of represents the risk to the popula­ the reasons for assessments needs tion at large as in the example: to be borne in mind when con­ the c:hanc:es of an ac:c:ident sidering the results of a particu- from this installation resul­ lar assessment: ting in over ZOO fatalities is 1 in 50,000 per year. • 1940s: how c:an we improve Sinc:e the soc:ietal risk in dea­ reliability? ling with nuc:lear activities will .. 1950s: how c:an we improve depend on the total received dose safety? of radiation, the term c:ollec:tive • 1970s: is it safe? dose is often used to indicate· the • 1980s: c:an we demonstrate soc:ietal risk. The "adverse c:onse­ that it is safe? quenc:e" of the evaluated risks associated with the nuclear indus­ Sinc:e risk assessment still con­ try is normally delayed fatal tains areas of uncertainty this leukaemia and c:anc:ers. slow c:hange in emphasis raises the following questions when con­ RISK ASSESSMENT HISTORY sidering the results of an assess­ ment: Attempts to quantify risk began in the 1920s when failure rates of aircraft were used to try and improve • why is it being done? designs. However, it was not until • for whom is it being done? the Sec:ond World War that the basic:s • who is doing it? of risk assessment were derived from the development of the VZ roc:ket. RISK ASSESSMI::.NT

12 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 RISK DETERMINATION employed ore by no means second to It is necessary to incorporate none. The radiation dose limits ore local population data and dis­ set out in the Ionising Radiation tribution os well os other local Regulations 1985 (new limits were factors (such os meteorology, introduced this spring) as: topography and hydrog ology). Workers - SOmSv/yr, a risk of 8 in 10,000 per year; Individual Risk (IR) is derived Public: - SmSv/yr, a risk of from the equation: 8 in 100,000 per year. IR = P(E) x P(C) where By comparison new plants in the P(E) = likelihood of event (events chemical industry are designed to per year) and meet risk values nearly ten times P(C) = probability of individual lower and as can be seen the radia­ being killed in the event. tion worker standard is eight times Soc:ietol risk is built up from higher than the average risk for the fatalities from individual workers in industry generally: 8 in events: 10,000 os opposed to 1 in 10,000 Event 1 has a likelihood f(1) per year. and produces N(1) fatalities, Soc:ietol risk is much more com­ Event 2 has a likelihood f(2) plex to judge. The main concern is and produces N(2) fatalities, that a major accident could occur etc. with perhaps thousands of deaths, The summation of these events is eve11 though the likelihood may be often presented graphically in the very slight. Of course this has form of "fN curves" in which the been overtaken by events in the y-oxis is f, the likelihood of an Soviet Union, where the worst has event causing N or more fatalities, happened. and the x-axis is N, the number of fatalities. IMPROVEMENTS For normal operations there is Carrying out a risk assessment no component for the likelihood of involves a detailed review of plant the event, the event will occur, design and operation; NO plant is hence the risks are determined perfectly safe, and possible im­ directly from the consequence provements can always be identified the waste in transit ore also analysis: the best known example during the course of the study. One possible. being the effects of the routine can therefore have strong grounds discharges to the environment from for questioning the validity of an Hazard analysis is based partly Sellafield. assessment should no improvements on speculation and partly on his­ be identified. torical experience. Anyone involved RISK EVALUATION in accident analysis cannot foil to There ore a few occasions when a FINAL THOUGHTS be surprised at some accidents risk can be judged against a stan­ which actually do occur. One ex­ dard; more usually there is a sub­ • Risk assessments are an aid to ample is the, yet to be officially jective assessment. deciding whether on activity is confirmed, "disruptive scenario" in The consideration of individual safe, but they are not an end in which a US nuclear submarine rested risk figures is relatively straight themselves. on a nuc:lear waste dump off Lands forward since they can be readily • Risk assessments only provide End in late 1983. The submarine judged against other everyday a "snapshot" in time: it is spent several months "cooling off" risks: the risk of being killed vital to ensure that assumptions before it was allowed to enter the whilst driving, or working in in­ made about the standards ore Holy Loch base for decontamination dustry, is of the order of 1 chance maintained by good management. (see SCRAM 42). in 10,000 per year; the risk of • Risk assessments ore inherently being struck by a meteorite is 1 predictive and the greatest CONSEQUENCE ANALYSIS chance in 1,000 million per year. benefit is gained during the What is slightly disturbing is planning and design phases when This estimates the effects of on that, contrary to the claims of the changes ore much easier and accident. For nuclear accidents nuclear industry, the standards cheaper to implement. this nvolves the determination of the amount and type of radiation released and its effects on the surrounding population. This is not to suggest that the effects of a nuclear accident ore limited to human damage but that the risks ore usually expressed in terms of human casualties. There has been considerable de­ bote over the years on the effects of radiation. For received doses of over 450 rem (4500mSv), death in the short term is likely, but such doses are only likely to be received in the vicinity of the severest of nuclear accidents. In dealing with nuclear waste radiation doses of the order of a few rem ore of concern. Official figures give the relationship: Dose of 6-7 rem (60-70mSv) produces a 1 in 1,000 chance of a delayed fatal leukaem1a or cancer. SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 13 IDounre CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 OFFICIAL SECRETS?

Documents which hod been request­ it, and seemed to insist that only DECLARATION OF WYRE ed by the objectors before the elected representatives or aca­ start of the inquiry were finally demics could serve on the commit­ The Orkney and Shetland islands released by the Developers during tee. The press are not to be were pledged from Scondonovion to its first week. The health and allowed to attend its meetings: Scottish ownership os port of the safety documents were released with Dounreay "openness" seems very dowry when a Danish princess mar­ building numbers deleted for the selective. ried Jomes Ill of Scotland in 1468. period 1975 - 1985. Building The Dounreay management and At the peace of Brendo (1667), numbers for plant at Windscole were trade unions hove threatened to Denmark hod the right in the peace provided at the Windscale Inquiry take legal action over the allega­ treaty to redeem the pledge of and it didn't prejudice security tion that environmental monitoring Orkney and Shetland. This means there which is the excuse offered procedures were not strictly fol­ that the constitutional status of for not doing so at Dounreay. Are lowed. Mr Blumfield, denied that the islands is open to question. Dounreay's activities more any of the Dounreay workforce might Discharges from the planned re­ sensitive than Windscole's? not feel able to come forward with processing plant would go into the There was much debate over the critical evidence under pain of sea at a point where the ownership composition of the Dounreay Local dismissal. To work at Dounreay one of the waters could be disputed at Lioson Committee and a new has to sign the Official Secrets any time. Radioactivity may not be parallel committee which is being Act. Signing the Act is voluntary, discharged into international waters. proposed. Mr Blumfield would not according to Mr Blumfield, but if The Campaign Against Dounreay commit himself to allowing environ­ one doesn't sign, one isn't em- Expansion (CADE) is circulating a mental groups to be represented on ployed .• petition, "The Declaration of Wyre" to be presented to the monarchies AIRPORT 87 ? ----- DISCHARGES----- in Denmark and Norway. It asks The fuel for the Prototype Fast It has been admitted that some them to "confer and consult" on the Reactor at Dounreay is manufactured gaseous radionuclides, principally constitutional status of the islands at Windscole and, until June, was Krypton 85, will not be recovered. and to "inquire into the legality flown to Dounreay frorr Speke Air­ Its discharge is likely to be about in international low of siting a port in Liverpool. At a meeting on 100 times the present level. Krypton nuclear reprocessing plant in such 6th June, the Merseyside Public is due to be recovered from the a place os to threaten the safety Transport Authority refused BNFL gaseous discharges from the German of the waters in on area of unresolv­ Fermission to continue flying reprocessing plant at Wockersdorf. ed constitutional status." nuclear fuel out of Speke, 22 times This move to persuade Denmark a year. They were particularly and Norway to intervene has excited worried about plutoniumoxide being Ion Leveson: Research & Collation a lot of interest in those two flown in hard-wood containers. countries. The Norwegian Liberal Party has launched "Norway Against Dounreay Expansion", in conjunction with Norwegian nature conservation organisations, to represent Norweg­ ian interests which are threatened by EDRP, including the oil industry. The Norwegian Environment Minister, Sissel Ronbeck, has finally requested William Woldergrove, a British Environment Minister, to reconsider the siting of EDRP at Dounreay. LEUKAEMIA$ A study of leukoemios afflicting the under-25's, recently completed by the Scottish Office, dismisses the theory of "natural clusters", suggesting that the distribution of the disease is a chance phenomenon. It recommends a more detailed investigation of the raised incidence of leukoemios around Dounreay, Hunterstcn, Chopelcross, Holy Loch, and Rosyth. The five cases within 12.5 km. of Dounreay from 1979-83, ten times the number expected, were consider­ ably in excess of those expected, and hove only a one in 10000 chance of occuring. A Scottish Office spokesman stated, "what we don't know is whether the Dounreay plant in some way or other is the cause of the high incidence and we certainly don't know how it causes it, that remains on open question." He regarded the clusters found in Perth and Edinburgh os flukes.

14 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 IGeothermal Appropriate Technology•

The geothermal pilot project in tures. The only other comparable additiional funds, but that they were Cornwall that was jeopardised by deep system in the world is a considering "whether or not at this a lack of government support project at Los Alamos in the U.S.A. stage they should go for a two- (SCRAM 53) has had a last minute which is running into trouble over year, intermediate phase or whether reprieve. just such tooling problems. The to go right through onto the six Two years funding for the ultimate gool is to use the steam year project." The role of Gee­ project, at the Camborne School of to generate electricity. it is science in the programme has not Mines has been granted by the estimated that the rocks hold yet been hammered out. However, government. The grant, which is RTZ Oil & Gas or Taylor and Woodrow worth £5.85 million, will be are said to be interested in reassessed in twelve months time. commercial exploitation of the About £2 million of E.E.C. money, project. dependant on the grant has been released, but not before 8 of the 90-strong team hod joined an English based holding company for a I Waste U.S. operation called Geo-science. The scientists, who include T ony Batchelor, the team's dlrector, The Isle of Wight is to benefit have been hired back to to from a Refuse Derived Fuel Plant, Cambourne for the project's producing pellets of fuel from duration. domestic and industrial waste. The team is currently exploiting Crysfallfntl Despite pleas to the Government heat from rocks at a depth of 2 km. basement for funding, the £3 million They have bored two holes and rock Production investment has had to come from the developed a large reservoir between _.. county council. A deputation to the the ends. Cold water is pumped Environment Under-Secretary, William into this space where it heats up Waldergrave, last July, was given to temperatures of over 70 c. before confident assurances for funding. being pumped back to the surface. This money would have been dependant At this temperature the water is on funds being obtained from the only of use for low-grade heating in private sector. Mr John Hammond, greenhouses and fish forms to be the county waste disposal officer, built close to the site. The told SCRAM: "We are in the business geophysical aspects of how water of getting a good deal for our behaves when it is forced throuh potentia y exploita ratepayers money. Private invest- granite at these temperatures are equivalent to 10 b. tonnes of coal. ment means opting for profit." This also under invesigation. Howard Boyle, the registrar at would have increased the cost of The next stage in the project Cambourne, told SCRAM that the the pellets from about £5 a tonne will be to investigate the potent- Government would find more funds to some £11 a tonne. ial for extracting steam at 250 C. for the project if private Up till now the council has been from rocks at over 6 km. depth. companies find it viable. He did using landfill to dispose of waste, The initial problem will be to not think that the Government had but present sites will be full by construct drills and machines which been waiting for private interests 1989. The costs of other methods of can operate at such extreme temera- to materialise before granting disposal, such as incinerating or exporting waste ore prohibitavely high. After aproaching East Sussex Enterprises Ltd., market leaders in ICOAL the field, the RDF plant was found to be highly attractive. A coal-fired power station in Minnesota. Fluidised beds will cost The plant, which should be the U.S. is now producing electri­ about 10% less than coal gasifica­ completed by spring 1988, will be city with virtually no pollution. tion combined cycle power plants. sited on a disused cigarette- The station burns coal with a high However, they create more waste, lighter factory. It will produce sulphur content, but has almost and do not remove sulphur as 20 000 tonnes of fuel pellets a eliminated emissions of sulphur efficiently. Another technology year. Prisons and hospitals will dioxide and nitrogen oxide. It which is now under discussion in initially take about 10 000 to.;;'"nes consumes for less water than a the US is gasifying coal under­ and research shows that the market conventional power station and ground. will develope once production is produces non-toxic slog which con Meanwhile, here in Britain, the under.way. be sold for rood-building. queen will not be opening Drax B, The council plan to use the process The new process uses the two because it will spew out 600 000 as efficiently as possible. They existing technologies of cool tonnes of sulphur dioxide and 200 will use residues to form compost­ gasification and combined cycle 000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide every -fertilizers. As John Hammond sold: generation in tandem. Combined year, and is likely to be a major "We have found that a tremendous cycle means generating electricity political embarrassment. amount of waste on the island - simultaneously from turbines Flue gas desulphurisation commersial and industrial- is running on gas and steam. equipment would cost the CEGB paper, cardboard and plastic, ideal The desulphurisation process around £150 million, and they for putting through the plant. We removes 99% of the sulphur, which refuse to spend this amount unless have also noticed that in terms of comes out almost pure and is sold the government insist. The Health tonnage the amounts picked up and to a local fertilizer firm. and Safety Executive say that from delivered to us by skip hire The experimental plant, si- now on desulphurisation equipment companies and private collectors are tuated halfway between Los Angeles must be fitted to new stations, but increasing." The Council hope that and Los Vegas, is an example of the this rule has not been applied to the benefits that they recieve from resurgence of interest in coal and Drox B. the scheme will encourage other in technologies to burn it. Later local authorities to follow suit, this year the US's first fluidised NEW SCIENTIST. 10.4 and 22.5. but Government support leaves much bed cool station will open in to be desired. SCRAM Journal June/July 19&6 15 Combined Heat And Power

An adjustment to electricity supply policy, which places less two options and the results show emphasis on Nuclear Power, is long overdue. We should be that on inner London CHP scheme looking for a robust and proven technology which can be seen would generate substantially more employment both in the construction to generate employment. ADRIAN A TKINSON proposes that phose and in operation than would the solution is Combined Heat an Power (CHP). Sizewell B. The CEGB carried out a similar exercise and its conclusion was:

By for the most substantial com­ well rehearsed but worth summari­ "The overall result of these parison that has been mode between sing again: calculations show the 'direct' the nuclear and CHP options was the generation of 99,000 person­ case put by the Greater London * CHP con provide electricity years of employment (building Council (GLC) to the Sizewell In­ cheaper than any other signif­ CHP schemes for London and Man­ quiry. The central argument of the icant technology available in chester). This result does in- case was that urban cool-fired CHP the UK; deed confirm the assertion that power stations ore more economic in CHP can provide space and the CHP-District Heating Schemes electricity generation than ANY water heating to surrounding would create more employment per form of nuclear power. No evidence areas substantially cheaper than million pounds of expenditure was brought to the Inquiry that existing alternatives; than the Sizewell PWR station. would refute this conclusion. The * CHP saves energy outright and My computations show that on the calculations were carried out on is therefore a prudent notional Sizewell project, expenditure of exactly the some basis os that used energy policy; £1097 millions (March 1982 by the Central Electricity Gener­ CHP con displace gas, which is prices) would directly generate ating Board (CEGB) to justify a relatively valuable and scarce 63,700 person-years of employ­ Sizewell and the results stood up resource, with cool, which the ment, 58 per million pounds. The to cross examination. UK has in abundance and with the combined expenditure of £ 1415 The reason the CEGB gave for not effect of supporting the mining millions on the London and Man­ considering CHP themselves was that industry and mining communities; chester CHP-DHS projects would it does not constitute "main gener­ * CHP con be on important port directly generate 99,000 jobs, ation"; in other words that it con of a policy to regenerate inner 70 per million pounds." only constitute a minor option city areas by improving living (Fishwick Consultants: "Employ­ which therefore does not compare standards and because it is ment Generated by Combined Heat with nuclear. The GLC evidence, attractive to manufacturing in­ and Power and District Heating however, showed that a major com­ dustry; Schemes in Comparison with those mitment by government - but quite * CHP construction and operation of the Sizewell 'B' Station", An comparable with current practice in generates more employment per Assessment for the Secretory's Scondonovio and West Germany - pound invested than other energy Deportment of the CEGB, June could result in the obviation of supply investments including 1983.) the need for any other main gener­ nuclear power. ation plant well into the next Neither of these studies, it century. The situation could be CHP & EMPLOYMENT should be emphasised, account for reviewed again at that time. the additional employment benefits The Socialist Environment and The employment argument is very that could flow from the supply by Resources Association (SERA) and important; relative to CHP nuclear CHP systems of cheaper heat to the Jobs from Warmth Campaign hove power is o POOR job generator. The industry. There is accumulating been arguing for many years that GLC carried out considerable work evidence of increased competitive­ CHP should ploy a more central role in analysing the relative employ­ ness in a range of industries in in energy policy. The arguments ore ment generation potential of these continental cities where the bene-

16 SCRAM Journal June/July 1986 fits of a local CHP utility are nonce militate against the develop­ favoured the establishment of a available. ment of CHP. "National Heat Board" to defend the interests of CHP at the INSTITUTIONAL BLOCKS THE WAY FORWARD national level in competition with existing fuel supliers. The major problem inhibiting the There are four things which need Whilst an alternative view would development of CHP in the UK is to be done to unblock the way to favour decentralisation of the institutional: who is going to substantial CHP development in the existing fuel boards, in the build and run such systems? At the UK: absence of this there can be Sizewell Inquiry it was this which little doubt that some change is the CEGB and the Inspector put to Further legislation is needed necessary at the centre to open the GLC in the form of a challenge. to encourage the Electricity up the CHP option effectively. The existing fuel supply indus­ Supply Industry to cooperate in Rather than proliferating com­ tries see CHP as offering them the development of municipal CHP petition in national agencies, direct competition which they would systems. It may remain prefer­ it is probably preferable to prefer not to have. So far they able for municipalities to own introduce some coordination with have successfully resisted its de­ and run their own power stations CHP, energy conservation and the velopment, to the detriment of the rather than rely on an uncooper­ renewables promoted by one country as a whole and especially ative industry, but CHP systems agency, say as a strongly rein­ those inner city residents suf- will only thrive if the price forced Energy Efficiency Office fering fuel poverty. paid by industry for electricity and the relevant parts of the On the continent such systems so generated is fair. Energy Technology Support Unit. are almost universally initiated 2 The legislation available lt needs stressing that these and run by municipalities or wholly allowing local authorities to should provide assistance to municipally owned utilities. It build and run CHP systems needs local authorities as relatively appears that this is by far the to be reinforced to give them independent agencies for CHP most robust approach. In the UK an every encouragement to do so. development and not themselves increasing number of local author­ Something like a "Local Authori­ exercise control. ities are showing interest in buil­ ties Heat Utility Act" should be ding local systems and hence an put together to create the right It should be deemed something of increasingly urgent need for cen­ context. a scandal that the publicy owned tral government to create the con­ 3 Government must be prepared to fuel industries hove been allowed text in which CHP development can sanction public sector borrowing by successive governments to block proceed. The present Government for local authorities to con- CHP development where the benefits insists that CHP systems must be struct CHP systems. It cannot be to the country as a whole and in privately financed while continuing overemphasised that this is not particular to the inner city poor to finance other energy options a call for new funds but a call ore so clearly evident. Nobody through public sector borrowing. for the redirection of funds would sensibly wish a major nuclear Despite the clear advantage of CHP which would otherwise be spent accident to be the cause that pre­ - even in straight financial terms on other, less appropriate, cipitates the development of CHP; - the difference between the terms energy investments. but it would be still worse for the of private and public sector fi- 4 The Marsholl Committee on CHP lessons to go unheeded. IRe vi

STILL OUT IN THE COLD: COMBINED major work on CHP to highlight its be recouped over decades, but it HEAT AND POWER IN BRITAIN. advantages. There has been a moun­ also has enormous social benefits. By Rob Edwords. tain of paper produced over the The survey of other European Gover­ £2.50 from The Charter for Energy last decade, which shows that, not nments attitudes to CHP provides Efficiency, 43 Grainger Street, only is district heating from CHP the ultimate condemnation of the Newcastle upon Tyne NEl 5JE. cheaper than the alternatives, but British Government. it would also create jobs, help CHP is still a relatively un­ reverse the decline of the inner known technology in this country, cities, begin to tackle fuel pover- so it is up to those of us who do ty and have major environmental know about it to trumpet its The Charter for energy benefits. benefits for and wide. The pamphlet Efficiency have produced this pam­ The Government's approach is would not take a busy Councillor or phlet as part of their ongoing castigated for its dilatoriness, MP long to read and understand. Why campaign for increased investment and its insistence on attracting not buy a few copies and hand them in a more energy efficient Britain. private finance - another excuse to people in a position to join the It explains, not in technical for inaction. CHP/DH is the classic growing lobby for safe energy. jargon, how combined heat and power public project; it requires large works, and draws on all recent capital investment which can only PETE ROCHE. SCRAM Journal June/ July 1986 17 Man Fights Back ..... CHAPEL CROSS Until this February there was no coordinated opposition to nuclear power on the Isle of Man, yet Sellafield's sordid seepage soils the sands of Manx •s scenic shores. ROWAN ROSShere describes the island's united campaign which has risen under the sloga "Keep Mann Alive: Close Sellafield."

The Isle of Man is situated in peace and JeQn Emery of CORE the middle of the Irish sea. It has addressed a large public meeting in it's own government, Tynwald, which Peel, our main fishing centre. A having been in operation for over a couple of fishermen walked out, but millenium, is the oldest known many more stayed to ask relevant Parliament in the world. Over the and concerned questions. last 35 years this unique little On Easter Saturday the speaker of nation has had to learn to live the House of Keys, Sir Charles beside the operations of BNFL at Kerruish, officially welcomed the Sellafield. This nuclear reprocess- Sirius. He talked at length with ing plant is known, even within its George Pritchord and looked at the own industry, as the "muckiest" many reports and studies done by nuclear installation in the world. scientists for Greenpeace. He then publicly signed our petition. Our Lord .Bishop also come aboard the KEEP MANN ALIVE packed boat to conduct a short and moving service at which he expressed his fears about Sella- to work towards getting a fuller Close Se/lafield field, the anxiety it caused the picture. This February, after the third Island's residents and the fact that At this point the Guest House accident at Sellafield since BNFL do not carry much conviction. Association gave us their verbal Christmas, the people of the Island On April the first, Greenpeoce support, but Tynwald issued o press finally said "enough is enough". soiled off to initiate British statement accusing us of causing Our Government has been asking for Nuclear Fools day at the Sellofield "mass hysteria" and grave economic nil discharges into the Irish sea pipeline, while we, much heartened, harm to the Island. At that time we for a number of years.ln their consolidated our campaign. This felt lonely and vulnerable but monthly report to Westminster this period was however o contradiction people urged us on, by signing the Easter, they asked, in addition, for petition in their thousands. compensation for the Island's Lobbying an MHK at that time one of suffering economy to now be KEEP MANN ALIVE us remarked: "so you are waiting considered. The reply from the for a large nuclear accident before British Government was polite but you will act." The following week dismissive, stating that they are Close Se/Jafield the reactor at Chernobyl blew up. "quite happy with the present for us. The Fishermons Association After the ghastly pause, which situation". Meanwhile our tourist issued a statement giving no has to be for the people nearest and fishing industries and our credibility to Greenpeoce, although the disaster, the radioactive cloud property market have all been privately many fishermen hod signed was suddenly over us. Immediately adversely affected, by our situation the petition. We went to see the we were called upon, even by some in the "most radioactive sea in the Government analyst who assured us members of our own Government, for world". that os his findings gave no advice and information. This The campaign against Sellafield indications of any adverse effects on tragedy in Russia and its effects started in February, when 2 women our environment, the minimal mon­ on our Island highlighted our wrote to the local press. Not itoring conducted on the island was unduly suprised, but still adequate. We were not suprised, os delighted by the response that his equipment was os basic and KEEP MANN ALIVE underfunded os possible. We were these letters inspired, 2 public meetings were organised. The also concerned that no extra monitoring was undertaken after Close Se/Jafield overwhelming feeling from these accidents at the plant. meetings, well attended by people Government's lack of co-ordination We compared our monitoring to that of all ages, was to demand the and preparedness and, as a result, of our sister islands of Channels closure of Sellafield NOW. At this they are now taking our campaign to and Wight and found ours seriously stage, very few of our MHKs­ heart. At the suggestion of some of locking. These Islands all carry equivalent to MPs- showed interest. our MHKs we are preparing draft out more extensive and intensive Lobbying them and collating reports looking into more extensive information was our first job. monitoring than we do. They also and thorough monitoring and also give top priority to reassuring the In April our petition, which what contingency plans we would public, by publishing quarterly demanded the immediate closure of like to see in operation. reviews in the local press. We also Sellafield , was launched. This We have heard today, May 16, met with the newly appointed Commu­ coincided with o visit from the that some of our MHKs have tabled a nity Physician, who assured us that motion in the House, joining us in Greenpeoce boat Sirius. On Good there was only o slight increase in Friday, George Pritchard of Green- calling for the closure of Sella- cancer mortality. Whilst this did field. Small though the Island may reassure us to some extent, we were be, with o population of just all aware that this statistic would 65000, we ore all working together. not cover treated cancers such as Perhaps our voice will now be childhood leukaemia or any of the heard, another major tragedy many other illnesses caused by averted, and the more insidious but radiation, such as cataracts, dia- equally tragic long-term pollution betes, high blood pressure, benign from Sellafield, halted. tumours and genetic malformations. He appreciated this fact and agreed Now the hard work begins ••• 18 SCRAI\'\ Journal June/July 1986 FIRST TO ll-IE BUTTON •.• BUT AS WE ALL KNOW WERE ARE NO WINNER.5 IN ANY NUClEAR E)(C-~A~GE 000D~I<>H'1' ANO C:rOt) SLE • Listings

ENEF

Lothian Energy group ore in the process of setting up on energy advice and education centre where people can receive independent and practical energy conservation infor­ CONFERENCE mation. There will be a permanent commercial and educational exhibit­ ion of con serval ion materials and MAKING BRITAIN WARMER? equipment. The centre will create o high public profile for energy and Energy Projects Conference resource management. it will 8th - 11th September 1986 actively support and promote the University of Surrey, Guildford development of renewable and ol ter­ Workshops on: Long-term future of not ive energy sources. Little Hlack Rabbit has been energy projects; Project management having o fine time down in the - Financial and Technical Issues; If you could benefit from this notorious "Scottish Surplus Elec­ Energy Advice; Rural Projects; scheme, or want to contribute yo•Jr t rickery Board" warrens in East Development training and Long-term services, contact: Lothian. employment strategies; Good proct ice; Tom Read, The cause of all the jollity was Promot;on; Training. 15 Buccleugh Place, o "meet the journalists" rally, put Exhibitions by major droughtproofing Edinburgh EH8 9LN on for the benefit of "honest" Don and insulation manufacturers. Tel.: (031) 667 1011 x 6799 Miller at the Torness Warren. The journalists, replete with all the Book by 31 July. usual paraphernalia of the modern Contact: Soro Addington (or Neil media, and our long-eored friend, Ritchie for exhibitions), were waiting expectantly for the N.E.A., words ot wisdom from Our Don. 2/4 Bigg Mkt., At last the Great Ma n spoke. He Newcastle open Tyne, gave the assembled multit ude his NE1 1UW undivided attention and a carefully Tel.: (091) 261 5677 prepared spontaneous performance. He harangued the mob with the truths of nuclear power; it is safe, clean, cheap and con never blow up; Torness is the "safest reactor that has ever been built." "Of course it is," LBR piped up, "it hosnt been commisioned yet." After the opening soliloquy, it was time for some dialogue. l::lut others were also in the hall: Councillors from the Peoples Republic of Lothian. Stop those cameras rolling or I'll not say o word, quoth Don. You SUBSCRIBE PAY OUR what? cried the throng. I said, I'll not exchange o word with onti­ nucl•'Or Councillors while the TV crew~ ore in the hall. The hocks t. NOW~ ~WAGES!~ were aghast. This is not South Aft ico they roared os one, and kept SUBSllUPTIUt"l FORt-I \11\GES S'l'N IDlt-K.i ORDER FORM the cameras on. Suddenly the room went dark. Hod Don invoked the wrath of the energy Name .. Annual subscription rates gods? No, it was o minion, bent on Address. quick promotion, who hod caused the Ordinary ...... E7 murky mayhem. But to no avail, for Concessionary ...... 1:.4 Tel the cameras continued to roll and Support1ng ...... ElO- hod recorded the whole dastardly lnstitutional ...... !:.12 To The t~anager : event . The minion then turned on overseas ...... F.9 .Bank the air conditioning which rendered Household ...... i 30 Address. the sound recording equipment Life sub ...... f.50 useless. "Cease these Micky Mouse antics" cried the People's leader. Where is your new open policy of YES l ''de w1sh to subsc;r i be Please pay on . . . ( lsl payment l infotmotion for all? · the stun ot .. from my account Uut it hod gone, slipped out llallie . nurrher . . . . l o the Royal Bank round the back, leaving norry a Address. of Scotland, 142 Princes SLreeL, !toce. I::dinburyh (83-Sl-00) for thl' 'l'el credit of SCIW/, !hllnl>Pr 2 account 258597 al!J make similar payments Return Lo: SCRAM, 11 Porlh St, monlhly'yearly until cancelled. F.dinbliC'jh Elll 3LE. 031 55'/ 4L83 Signed .... Dale . . . .