Nuclear Power
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No.59 z iii "Ill ~ 2 er0 Ill Ill 0 Nuclear Family Pia nning p3 Chernobyl Broadsheet ·, _ I. _ . ~~~~ George Pritchar d speaks CONTENTS COMMENT The important nuclear development since the Nuclear Family Planning 3 last SCRAM Journal was the Government's The CEGB's plans, and the growing opposition, after Sizewell B by go ahead for Sizewell B: the world's first HUGH RICHARDS. reactor order since Chernobyl, and Britain's News 4-6 first since the go ahead was given to Torness Accidents Will Happen 1 and Heysham 2 in 1978. Of great concern is Hinkley Seismic Shocker 8-9 the CEGB's announced intention to build "a A major article on seismic safety of nuclear plants in which JAMES small fanilty• of PWRs, starting with Hinkley GARRETT reveals that Hinkley Point C. At the time of the campaign In the Point sits on a geological fault. south west to close the Hinkley A Magnox Trouble at Trawsfynydd 10-11 station, and .a concerted push in Scotland to A summary of FoE's recent report on increasing radiation levels from prevent the opening of Torness, another Trawsfynydd's by PATRICK GREEN. nuclear announcement is designed to divide Pandora's POX 12 and demoralise the opposition. But, it should The debate over plutonium transport make us more determined. The article on the to and from Dounreay continues by facing page gives us hope: the local PETE MUTTON. authorities on Severnside are joining forces CHERNOBYL BROADSHEET to oppose Hinkley C, and hopefully they will Cock-ups and Cover-ups work closely with local authorities in other "Sacrificed to • • • Nuclear Power" threatened areas - Lothian Region, The Soviet Experience Northumberland, the County Council Coalition "An Agonising Decision• 13 against waste dumping and the Nuclear Free GEORGE PRITCHARD explains why Zones - to formulate a national anti-nuclear he left Greenpeoce and took a job strategy. And remember: only the Tories with a compc:lny looking at undersea nuclear waste disposalp support the PWR - in the coming general Birds in a Flap over Barrage 16-17 election we have the opportunity to vote out The ecological arguments against Size well B, Hinkley C, Torness, Heysham 2, the Severn Barrage by MIKE LEVEN. and all the rest. Vote tactically. When the Wind Blows 18 A review of the Sritish Wind Energy Can nuclear waste be safely disposed of under Association's annual conference in Edinburgh by MIKE TOWNSLEY. the seabed? An important question surely. Appropriate Technology 19-21 SCRAM has always believed that there must Reviews 22-23 be three conditions on any method of dealing Little Black Rabbit 24 with nuclear waste: the source of that waste, the nuclear power and weapons programmes, must be stopped; the waste must be HUGH RICHARDS is a member of the Welsh monitorable; and it must be retrievable should Anti-Nuclear Allaince. anything go wrong. Instead of considering this JAMES GARRETT is a freelance journalist working in Bristol. angle, the Press preferred to cover the PATRICK GREEN is Friends of the Earth's fact that George Pritchard left Greenpeace Radiation Consultant. to work as Trade Union liaison, on the advice PETE MUTTON is a member of the Highland of the Unions, with the company which is Anti-Nuclear Group. investigating the subject. They didn't know all MIKE LEVEN is a Town Planner and vice Choir of the Edinburgh branch of the the facts. To further the debate, thls issue Scottish Ornithological Society. of SCRAM includes an interview with George Prltchard, in which he describes his Views expressed in articles appearing in this resignation as "on agonising decision", and Journal are not necessarily those of SCRAM. explains his reasons. Until their study is This Journal is produced for the British Anti published, SCRAM cannot oppose or support the Nuclear and Safe Energy movements by the proposal; but we must keep an open mind. Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace. And we all must remember that the company Editor: Steve Martin concerned is not in a position to stop the News Editor: Thorn Dlbdin nuclear power programme: it is only the Appropriate Technology: Mike T ownsley politicians, responding to pressure from the people, who can do that. We welcome contributions of articles, news graphics and photographs. Distorted logic. A recent report by the Deadline for the next issue: Bradford School of Peace Studies reveals that, Articles (800 words/page), 5 June conventional strikes on nuclear power stations News & graphics, 12 June could produce as much fallout as a nuclear ISSN 0140 7340 Bi-monthly. exchange. The megadeath enthusiasts therefore argue that we might as well keep the nuclear SCRAM, 11 Forth Street, Edinburgh EH1 3LE. weapons, when they should conclude that we Tel: 031 557 4283/4. must get rid of nuclear power stations too. 2 SCRAM Journal May/June 1987 as the Severn barrage or CHP, Nuclear Family Planning reach the stage of economic alternatives, they should be included With the go ahead for Sizewell B now given, attention has in the analysis (para 2.179). These conclusions make a substantial case shifted to the next PWRs. HUGH RICHARDS has followed for re-examining the economics of the debate and describes the changes in CEGB policy over the PWR against alternatives. the years. He also urges everyone to support the Severnside On 15 March 1985, eight days after the end of the Inquiry, Lord Local Authorities in their objection to Hinkley Point C. Marshall announced the existing What happens after Sizewell B? The the CEGB regard the site os Magnox reactors at Trawsfynydd Central Electricity Generating Board "conveniently situated" at the point would probably close in 1955, and (CEGB) have said that they want a where the national grid crosses the one option would be a PWR on the "small family" of Pressurised Water Severn. site, using either cooling towers or Reactors (PWRs). But their often On 25 August 1982 the CEGB direct cooling from an enlarged inconsistent notions about family announced the list of candidates lake. Wylfa was also added to the planning, and the Chairman's after Sizewell: Dungeness, Hinkley, list. tendency to make strategic decisions Bradwell, Druridge (Northumberland), We anticipate strong pressure "on the hoof", have created Winfrith (Dorset) and Sizewell C. Of from the CEGB and the Government confusion. To understand the these, Hinkley C was to be regarded to truncate any public inquiries into implications fo~ England and Wales as a "firm commitment". the CEGB's "small family". The it is necessary to return to an By March '83 changed economic first task of ahe combined opposition earlier riddle: what is a programme? circumstances meant, according to will be to resist the "streamliners" That is the question we have the Department of Energy at the who would restict the terms of the asked ever since the December 1979 Sizewell Inquiry, that there was no inquiries to local planning Government announcement of a longer a sound planning basis for a considerations. 15GW nuclear "programme" (equal 15GW programme. No fixed At Hinkley the battle lines are to a dozen Sizewells) over 1982-92. progrort:~me existed, and nuclear already being drawn. Somerset Part of the CEGB's confidential plant ordering would be on a step County Council have asked the 1978/79 Deveiopment Review of by·step basis (Layfield, chapter 91, Severnside Local Authorities to "Station Siting Possibili~ies" was para 91.2) consider taking part in a joint submitted to the Sizewell Inquiry by opposition to the anticipated the Suffolk Preservation Society. CEGB POLICY CHANGED application for a PWR. Sites considered were for inclusion The four County Councils in the in programmes for start up in the The CEGB began the Inquiry "Standing Conference on Regional period 1985-90. The assumption was maintaining that Sizewell 8 was a Policy in South Wales", namely that site work on a PWR would single project: there was no final Gwent and the three Glamorgans - start in 1982, followed by a further sequence of reactor types on South, Mid and West - are opposed four stations, or more, depending on identified sites. In December 1984 to the further development of whether Advanced Gas-cooled Lord Marshall stated: "Layfield nuclear power and are worried Reactor (AGR) or PWR plant were permitting, we shall build 6 PWRs about the effects on south Wales of chosen. 11 sites were considered, by the end of the century in the a serious. accident at Hinkley Point. with comments on factors ranging south of the country." By the end Avon County Council and the City from safety to local reaction. of the Inquiry they stated that Councils of Gloucester, Bristol and Connah's Quay was regarded as Sizewell B should be considered as Exeter have all passed motions unacceptable to the Nil (Nuclear the first of a small family, of 3, 4 opposing the further development of Installations Inspectorate) because of or 5 PWRs. nuclear power. Devon County population density. Didcot was seen In his report, Layfield was Council have avoided a head-on as possible for an AGR, but there scathing in his comments on the approach by commissioning an were worries about polluting the CEGB's approach. He said the alternative energy strategy for the Thames with liquid radioactive significance they attached to County from the SW Energy Group. discharges, particularly those Sizewell B, for its future plans, Somerset County Council have following an "incident". Fawley and could and should have been made allocated £250,000 to fight Hinkley Hartlepool were not favoured clear from the outset {para 91.11 ). C at the Public Inquiry, and believe because of adjacent petrochemical He regarded the case for Sizewell os that safety and general evironmental works, and strong Nil concern about one for a single station.