-contents Fire at Faslane. 3 Comment Cancer Express. 4-5 The theme of this issue is nuclear waste - the 'dirty end' News, 6-8 of the fuel chain. Many recent developments have brought including: the issues to the public attention. Druridge Matters; 7 With the campaign against Windscale hotting up we have Waste Lines. 8 produced a broadsheet in this issue. lt was eo-written by SCRAM, All Gone Rong: Heysham. 9 Greenpeace, CORE and Jos Gallac.her. We hope it will receive Letters. 10 wide circulation, particularly at the CND rally at Barrow on Appropriate Technology, 11-13 the 27th. Extra copies are available from SCRAM, bulk rates including: on request. Tidal power - the Case Against.11 The forthcoming Public Inquiry into spent fuel transport Reviews. 14-15 from Torness will be taking up a lot of SCRAM's time in the Little Black Rabbit/Diary. 16 near future. On page 4/5 Martin Bond has written a background piece for the Inquiry. Objections may still be lodged, and we This magazine is produced strongly urge SCRAM readers to write to the Council at the for the Anti-Nuclear, Safe Energy and Disarmament move address below. We have also set aside a page in this issue for ments by the Scottish Campaign waste news. to Resist the Atomic Menace. In the wake of the Mont-Louis wreck in the English Channel SCRAM, 11 Forth Street, the announcement that Dounreay is the choice for fast reactor Edinburgh EH 1 3LE. spent fuel reprocessing is the most insensitive, irresponsible Typesetting at Edinburgh Unem and lunatic idea ever. Do they really think that highly radio ployed Workers Centre, 12a active spent plutonium can be shipped from all over Europe Picardy Place, Edinburgh EH 1 to the North of Scotland without stirring up a hornet's nest 3JT. Send contributions for inclusion, of opposition? The Unions have already said that they want Deadline for next issue: a ban on moving radioactive cargoes by sea. Jim Slater of the 9th November 1984 NUS has asked whether stopping the sea dumping of nuclear waste has any point if cargo ships are going to sink carrying Cover photo by Martin Bond radioactive materials. lt is now obvious that the only reason Britain has been included SCRAM urgently needs another full time worker. in the Fast Reactor •collaboration' is to take Europe's nuclear ResP.OJISibilities will include: waste. Britain's •proven' lead in reprocessing technology (at helping with the running of the office; writi~ editi~ Windscale and Dounreay) has set us up to be the 'nuclear dustbin typesetting and laying out of Europe'. the Journal; and generally m'!Cking. in to keep the Cam- All the Press coverage of the 'hex' accident has tried to play down the danger, but one quote says it all, Paul Goris, pa•!'c?f.l'lt runs on collective 11 res~ibility and is an eqqal a spokesperson for the Dutch salvage team, said: Personally opf)ol1unity employer (ie I believe it is stupidity to carry radioactive cargoes by sea unless everybody works for nothing!). Expenses are available and it is absolutely necessary. Commercial reasons are not good a wage could be available enough11(Sunday Times, 16.9.84). if required and the accounts can c~. The position is East Lothian District Council, Council Buildings, Haddington to be fined as soon as ~ible. Help with accorilodation Obituary. may be possible - at least Everyone who has been involved in Se RAM was shocked in the short term. to hear of the suicide of Karen Tosh in August. Karen worked for se RAM between 1980 and 1983. Her energy and enthus iasm got the Smiling Sun shop off the ground. She played an important part in many issues of the Journal and helped to write a Se RAM pamphlet, "Torness: from Folly to Fiasco." She then worked on an Alternative Energy Strategy for Scotland. She moved to London in 1983 where she helped London Energy and Employment produce an exhibition. Depression drove her to take her own life. The untimely death of someone with so much commitment and energy for the social good is sad; WRECK 11-t~ NUc.LE.AR for us it is especially saddening to lose an old colleague and PRo ! 1 friend. We are sorry for the grief her death must have caused ~------· her friends and family. 2 SCR-AM Journal October/November 184 Fire at Faslane A fire broke out on board the drY. dock John Chambers, the Faslane PR man, at the F as lane nuclear submarine base on ~ugust refused to comment when we contacted him; 18th. Fire engines from the Dumbarton District he became very agitated when questioned Brigade were called out. An American Posei about the fire and sfarted to shout,a contrast dori missile-carryi~ submarine was in the with the very quietspoken man we spoke to dock at the time. This may seem like a minor after the US Sam Rayburn incident. (As men incident of no great imi)Oftance but the facts tioned above, Lt Anderson was very hel!)ful surrounding it suggest that there is more to - he was a bit irritated when we spol
because people put up with 6,000 road middle-class lady of the type normally Obituary deaths a year why worry about a little heard saying, "Isn't Mrs Thatcher doing more danger from nuclear power r a wonderful job, but should she not Hilda Murrell was murdered by One evil does not justify another, be a bit stricter?" rather than the a person or persons unknown. She pro and the opposite conclusion should usual mid 30s bearded leftie researcher bably came home to discover an Intruder be drawn, that both evils should be type seen putting the anti-nuclear who took her away by car, assaulted aiSolished, or at the very least, that point of view. her and left her to die of exposure. another should not be added." Most threatening to the pro-nuclear Fourteen days before her death she We in the anti-nuclear movement · lobby was the fact that Hilda was had applied to read her evidence at owe it to Hllda Murrell to make her one of the Prime Minister's beloved the Sizewell lnqulry:-"An ordinary the star she could have been, by all small business persons and as such citizen's view of Radioactive Waste accounts, had she lived to be the oldest she comments on THORP:- "No bus Management." witness in Sizewell. We should recall inessman in his senses would take Hilda graduated from Cambridge such statements as "the transport on such a proposition as this, so why In 1928. An expert on roses, she was unions who have now put a stop to Is it inflicted on the British tax-payer a f~ member of the Soli Association the practice (of sea dumping) stand and electricity consUmer?"; "How and ran her own company. She became for civilisation, and the government many successors to THORP mark 1, interested In the hazards of nuclear for barbarism"; "what sort of system the size of Wembley Stadium, could power generation. Her evidence, which of energy-production is this, which Wlndscale accornmoct.te? With 10 has been checked for accuracy by on top of all the extraordinary, danger years construction and a 10 year life. anti-nuclear experts, Is avall.t.le from ous, exceedingly expensive and barely construction on this part of the nuclear the Inquiry Secretariat, The Maltings, half-tried stratagems already mentioned, cycle would be perpetual." "This Is Snape, reference HM01. has to resort to such desperate measures a failed and dying industry. which HM01 contains Ideas one ·has In as this (dispo$al of HLW under the Is a major liability, and should be closed sleepless nights~ or half-drunk In the ocean bed) and all just to try to get down. The fact that plans can be made pub, refined Into replies to familiar rid of the rubbish? How can nuclear for adding to it shows an unbelievable arguments such as power be anything but many times degree of irresponsibility and stupidity 'the-people-who-live-In-granite-houses.•• '' deetrer than any other system of en In all concerned." beloved ·of nuclear proponents. Hilda ergy-production ever devised!"; "billions Hllda's Innocent voice against the says:- "The Inhabitants of Aberdeen are lavished on the !nuclear) Industry nuclear Industry Is like the child's and Corr1wall are not commonly seen while the watch dog organisations voice pointing out that the Emperor chewing pieces of their native rock: are starved of recources. when the has no clothes. One sentence of hers for it is the Ingestion of radioactive P.f"Otect.ion of the public should be should always be remembered by the elements that constitutes the main the absolute priority." anti- nuclear movement:- danger, • or refutes "the shocking but That would have been dynamite The first concern of the nuc.._ freqi.MtfltiY used non-argument that on TV when coming from a dear old Industry Is Its own perpetuation. SCRAM Jownal October/November 114 LindaH..-y 7 ..waste Lines
A lorry containing a mock-up NIREX is considering a proposal of a concrete radioactive waste block, to dispose of radioactive waste in symbolising NIREX's proposals to dump the seabed off the Orkneys. The proposal nuclear waste under Billingham, led comes from ENSEC, a subsiduary of a convoy of cars from Cleveland to Cluff Oil, who have been told by NIREX Windscale on September 8th. 20 cars, to go away and prepare further evidence •. containing 50 people, made the journey. The word is that they are presently The composition of the convoy spending £100,000 on a study into showed Billingham's broad-based opposi Bedford County Council, strongly all the different methods of storage tion to the NIREX plan. lt involved opposed to plans for a nuclear waste and disposal. all major political parties, trade unions, dump in Elstow, tried to take out an At a recent meeting Dale CIVIC heads, environmentalists and injunction against NIREX to stop them Campbeii-Savours, MP for Workington, ordinary people. Members of the Patter taking soil samples, but their application suggested to NIREX that they should dale Peace Group cheered the convoy was refused by the courts. They have join with other bodies from nuclear when it passed the M6 intersection now served 'stop and enforcement' nations around the world and find at Penrith. notices on NIREX, effectively blocking an island to store all the world's nuclear At 3.15 we erected banners outside any further exploratory work. The waste, and get the United Nations the main gate: - THE PEOPLE OF notices takes three days to take effect to guard it. Someone remarked that CLEVELAND WILL NEVER ACCEPT and NIREX went out to do test drilling they've already found it, it's called RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMPED on the day they were issued. However Britain. Alex Copson of ENSEC told UNDER THEIR COUNTRY and THE they met with mechanical problems Mr Campbeii-Savours that he would CHILDREN OF CLEVELAND DESERVE and were unable to finish the.ir work. include his suggestion in the study. A BETTER HER IT AGE THAN A RADIO North Bedfordshire Councillor Which all goes to show that they haven't A.CTIVE BURIAL GROUND. After Mike Dewar says that the test holes really got a clue what to do with it! Press interviews the speeches began. they did drill filled with water, which Fred Jones, BAND's Action lies beneath the clay beds. NIREX co-ordinator, stressed that this was has denied this, but Mr Dewar said, A report by the International a peaceful demo to show BNFL (one "If they are saying all the test holes Council of Scientific Unions, on the of the NIREX partners) that Billingham did not fill with water they are covering geological disposal of radioactive will never accept their plans. Conserva up. 1t is complete nonsense". wastes, has concluded that storage tive MP Richard Holt criticised the lt also appears that NIREX per for at least 100 years is essential. lt Government and the DoE for ignoring sonnel are changing the parameters found that knowledge of geological Cleveland's protests. However his for their repository. Their glossy bro conditions and of mining technology alternative plan of dumping in the chure says 40m of clay is required was limited. Work so far has been Australian desert upset some people, but, following soundings in different laboratory research, and much wider not least Zohl de lshtar, an Australian, areas, they have given much lower research is needed, including under -"ho said that nowhere was suitable figures - less than 40 feet in Ampthill! ground laboratories in all proposed for waste dumping. NIREX is not making many friends. rock types. Pete Wilkinson pledged Green Bedfordshire Times, 26.7.84 Nature. 16.8.84 peace's support for BAND's campaign:-"! congratulate the people of Billingham for their community spirit." He told Japan's nuclear industry is dogged may implement our dumping plans us to knock on his door should direct ly pursuing the plan to dump nuclear without an 'understanding"'. action be required. Jean Emery of waste in the Pacific. On August 14th PC: "What is the official timetable CORE spoke emotionally about leuk a meeting was held between Pacific for Japanese nuclear waste dumping aemia deaths as a result of Windscale Islands Groups and the Japanese Science in the Pacific?" and ended by saying that together and Technology Agency to exchange STA:"We plan to implement we are winning. information on the proposed dump. nuclear waste dumping in 1985, depen Response from the ST A was limited, ding on the conclusions of the LDC. although the following extracts reflect lt may happen that Japan will apply their general approach. this Autumn (1984) for a dumping permit in order to have approval one Pacific Concerns: "What does year before the dumping in 1985, after the Japanese Government mean when the LDC decision, but we have not A formal letter of protest was it says that it will seek an 'understanding' decided yet." handed in for Con Allday, BNFL Chair with Pacific people before going ahead man. The duty officer claimed that with its dumping plans?" This shows how crucial the LDC no senior member of staff was on ST A: "'Understanding' has different decision is, to all nuclear nations. Some duty - a little hard to believe you meanings. We will 'explain' the safety Pacific countries wish to set up their must agree. of nuclear waste dumping and we will own form of regulating body, as they Local people advised us not to expect the. people to understand••• We consider the LDC to be created for venture onto the beach to look at will do this at the London Dumping the West, especially Europe-ans, with the pipeline as we had intended, and Convention but cannot promise where, the intention of justifying and regulating so we decided to head off home. to whom, or how else we will explain. waste dumping. Japan is able to ignore the Pacific Islands' governments and Paul McGhee, BAND We do not know how many people or islands there are in the Pacific work solely through the LDC. The A one-hour video of the Protest will so we cannot say how we would reach Pacific Islands were one of the main shortly be available from BAND, cost them ••• Anyway the issue of gaining driving forces in achieving the mora £5. U2 Queenavay Billingh.. the 'understanding' of the Pacific people torium on Atlantic sea dumping; we Cleveland t•l. ·0642 535005 is not an official policy of Japan. We must support them in their struggle. 8 SCRAM Journal October/November '84 All Gone Rong
Permission for the construction of an Advanced Gas cooled Reactor at H~m was sought by the Central Electricity Generatl~ Board in 1967. The application was welcomed bY the local CCUICil on the grounds -that it would provide much needed ~l~t in the area, a fact much played upon by the CEGB in the lavish DW>IIc relations exercise which accom- ied the application. Tbis included a ptj»lic exhibition staffed some of -the senior CEGB planni~ __ engineers. When asked ther H~ would produce any -ctisagreeable by-pr'oGJcts• they gave ttie following answer: "The onlY pr'O(i.u;t the HflYSham _power station wiU proclree fs electricity. "Diere wiU be no ~!3' at aiL" in bed with his wife. lagging lt is indicative of the be accounted for by a number and insulation work within general level of public ignor of factors which have plagued the core was subject to fre ance which then existed about most AG R's; the main ones quent delay, and at one point nuclear power that no formal being continual design changes thousands of mounting bolts objections were made. At and appalling industrial rel were installed the wrong the time environmental concern ations during the construction way_ round as part of a 'silent was focussed on the f>9SSibility phase. During the 1970's protest' over working cond of a tidal barrage being buill the Nuclear Installations Itions. Most seriously, perhaps, across Morecambe Bay and Inspectorate (N 11) intervened working conditions combined the effects that this would on safety grounds. Among with a widespread belief have on the local wild life. the changes they demande Dear SCRAM Dear SCRAM Further to your recent articles We need a new full time worker about the French nuclear power industry, from the end of October to replace I read a bit about it in the French lrene, who is leaving to have twins newspapers while on holiday. (we don't do things by half in Cumbria!). Electricite de France (EDF), is, We are naturally looking for as you report, saddled with colossal a committed person who would take debts from its absurdly over-ambitious on the work for some time. If anyone nuclear programme. As a result, it knows of anyone who may want to is desperate to sell electricity, and take it on please apply to the address is offering it cheaply to businesses below. I am writing regarding the report contracting to use less electricity In the first week of October in SCRAM 42 relating to the Sam during the winter, when demand is BNFL get taken to court by the DPP Rayburn incident that occurred 175 at its peak. Now, as any fool knows, - sympathetic messages (!) to: miles off the coast of Cornwall 2nd nuclear electricity is most economical Jake Kelly, BNFL PR Manager, Windscale September last. when meeting a steady baseload, but & Calder Works, Sellafield, West Cumbria. I read with interest your editorial finds it difficult to follow surges. comment which mentioned that the A fluctuating load leaves expensive Jean Emery incident had received wide publicity nuclear plant idle. So other consumers CORE in such countries as the Soviet Union, are, in effect, paying for EdF's nuclear la Slater Street West Germany and Canada. You go mistakes by subsidising the off-loading Barrow on to state that there has been no of surplus electricity at a discount Cumbria media coverage of the serious incident to industry. 0229 33851 by the British Press. EdF is also offering cheap electricity In point of fact, the Daily Express to businesses going all-electric, which carried about a third of a column on helps to give electricity an image Dear SCRAM the subject sometime in March, although of being clean, plentiful, modern, We wish to continue receiving the report gave virtually no details cheap... now, where have we heard se RAM and we do use the information (compared to your excellent article), that before? Businesses are sceptical: contained therein a great deal. it did state that Greenpeace were EdF has repeatedly promised cheap Queensland of course has vast going to investigate the matter. lt electricity and not delivered.How coal reserves. Research too shows transpires that the Sunday Independent can they now hope to keep their promises that coal can be used to generate ran a lead article after information when their debts are larger than ever, electricity much more cheaply and from Greenpeace. From there, the and growing as the franc falls against cleanly than nuclear power now that Glasgow Herald ran an item and also some of the problems of clean coal the New Statesman. the dollar? EdF argues that its debts generation are being solved. Our own lt is a very serious incident indeed, in foreign currency represent only miners too feel a kinship with miners perhaps more importantly for the a few percent of the price of electricity, in your country. West Country in terms of the already but the wrangles go on. Uranium mining is a great problem moribund Cornish fishing industry EdF is not daft. They even managed to us here. Not only is it barely economical, and the tourist industry, upon which to negotiate a loan using future elec but the mines that are working are so many people in this part of the tricity production as security- elec on the watersheds of river systems world depend for a living, however tricity is not an easy thing to repossess! . prone to massive cyclones. When these meagre. The fishing industries of France EdF may have built far too much nuclear cyclones reach full force no one can and the Republic of Ireland should capacity too expensively, but if they be sure that any dam will hold. Already also be considered. can envisage industry consuming much in recent flooding water went down In conclusion, I am trying to more and offer it cheaply (which is the Gilbert River from the settlement run some sort of campaign in the West superficially economical once you've ponds at the old abandoned Mary Kathleen Country to ensure that the population built your plant and have huge debts to fend off), they may yet wriggle mine. of this green and pleasant land have So we are very grateful for the answers to enigmas that seem cloaked off the hook. Conservation and renew type of work that is undertaken by by the arcane decisions of a so-called able energy go out the window of course - you never see 'save it' stickers in SCRAM. government elect which purports to France. But that won't bother Margaret give people 'Freedom and Democracy'. FE Smith I would therefore appreciate whatever Thatcher, who is known to be keen Campaign Against Nuclear Power on copying the French nuclear pro information and/or contacts relating Queensland to this incident, and any future incidents gramme, starting with Sizewell ... ls Australia that what we're in for? relating to the West Country- however Robert Poole great or small. York John Forbes Exeter. (The French government has instructed EdF to increase electricity use by (Our editorial was referring to take 1990. Over the last year, consumption up of our story, which we press released. rose only 1%. Faced with a stagnant To contact John, please write to SCRAM economy, EdF are unlikely to achieve and we'll pass on any info to him. This the growth required. Nature, 6 Sept issue's 'page ler' will interest you 84.) - Eds.) 10 SCRAM Journal October/November '84 Tidal Power~ to the acid rain problem, the case against as it would be eliminated by less than 10%. Since the Severn Bri~e is now seen as havi~ a limited The cost of the Bondi future the debate about tlie Severn Barrage has been revitcr scheme, diverted to a national lised. The following article has been written by Jane Roberts insulation prQgramme and and Janet Rowe and concentrates on the energy side of the an energy efficiency drive, debate. We welcome a~ comments on this article and will could save more energy than print all correspondence in the next issue of SCRAM. the barrage could produce The Severn Estuar~ has Eur~•s largest tidal rallg! - 8.8m. This makes it Britain's best bet for tidal energy. The with negligible environmental 1 damage. ~o environmental Government's Bondi' Committee reported in 1981 on various damage can be justified in options, favouring the inner barrage now been pushed as a _public order to build more generating enterprise bv tfie Severn Tidal Power Group led by Taylor stations whilst there is so Woocfrow. J( scheme inc~ating a river crossing was _put much overcapacity, and so forward in 1983 by Wimpey-Atkins as a private enterprise {See much scope for reducing map and table). demand. 1t is preferable to The special habitats burn coal, provided the emmiss of estuaries are rapidlY dis ions are reduced and CH P appearing. The Severn Estuary technology is used, than to is of international significance barrage lhe Estuary. Research for wintering waders and •aarsrot should be concentrated on shelducks. The birds feed the real alternatives - wind, on the intertidal mudflats; wave and above all solar and the estuary, its surrounding energy: - with the aim of lowlands and the Bristol replacing coal in the future. Channel form a complex of inter-related habitats, The price of electricity each SUP.porting different ...__.__...e I - from a barrage is almost bird SP.ecies. Any changes entirely dictatecf by: the capital to tliis inter-relationship We must not be misled costs, as the fuel costs are could seriously reduce the by the fact that the barrage zero. Because of the tidal bird population. is a renewable energy source, range and the timing of the Ji. barrage would reduce into automatically accepting tidal flow the annual output the tidal range behind it; it as a good thmg; as the (in TWh) will be a third of the level woulcr not fall below foregoing demonstrates the that from an equivalent-sized that of mid-tide, water velocity environmental impact of nuclear plant despite the would be reduced and flow either scheme will be severe. lower construction cost P.er paterns would change shifting The following deals with Megawatt; the electricity the mud flats up to five metres the energy aspects of the wilr be more expensive. Accor in depth. Already highly poll proposals. ding to Bondi the (1982) cost uted, a barrage could adversely The Severn Barrage of barrage_ electricity will affect the dispersal of heavy is not an alternative to nuclear be 3.1p/KWr compared with metals, sewage and other power. Instead a barrage 2p for nuc ear and over 3p ~ollutants wittim the estuary. will help decrease the coal-burn for coal. This could create a serious and accelerate the programme However, it is obvious imbalance in the ecosystem. of pit closures. Ji. proposed that unforeseen difficulties, 'two basin' scheme could industrial action or even During the construction even be used as a pump storage incompetence could hold phase enormous amounts system in conjunction wilh up construction, thereby of fill and facing will be nuclear power stations to pushing up the final cosl: transported to the area; road cope with peak demands. of electricity from the barrage. ~nd sea tra.ffic .will greatly This does not seem unlikely:, mcrease, g1vmg nse to more The Bondi scheme would given t~e history of such ~ollution and disturbance. P.rovide 6% of our electricity rarge proJects. The Bondi barrage will employ <:Jemand. As nearly 80% of 21,000 workers, and the our electricity comes from The attractions of a Wimpey-Atkins plan 15,000. coal burning, a barrage will Severn Barrage are only SUP.er Because of tlie transient contribute Tittle to reducing ficial, and are far outweighed nature of such workforces environmental damage. The by the detrimental effects. great P.ressure w i 11 be put cost of installing pollution Large scale tidal barrages on local authorities to meet control equipment has been should not form any part the housing, education and estimated at £1.2 billion. of the solution to the probrems social serv1ce commitments At £6 billion the Bondi barrage of. nuclear power and acid during a period of drastic is not a cost effective answer ram. spending cuts. A temporary boom m the local economy BOND I WIMPEY- will leave the area worse ATKIN~ off, as has hapP.ened following Length of barrage (Km) 17 6 oth!'lr large c1vil construction Number of turbines 160 42 proJects. Turbine rating (MW) 45 25 Apart from the increased Total instal led generating capacity (MW) 7.200 1.050 traffic during construction Energy output per annum (TWh) 12.9 2.43 the inclusion of a second Estimated cost (1983 prices) £6.035m £885m crossing will involve eight Extra cost of highway & I ink roads £89-120m £60m miles of link roads to the Employment during construction 21.000 15.000 M4 through important land Permanent employment 500 not stated on both s1CJes of the Estuary:. Programme: A motorway in the Bonai time for pre-construction studies 6 years 3 years scheme will also lead to sub time to full generation 12 years 7.5 years stantial development changes. time to first generation 9 years 6 years SCRAM Journal October/November '84 11 FOSSILS ____ Brought back to Life ! Fossil-fuel burning power stations, for such measures could coincide with reaching the end of their life-times, refurbishment of the many ageing can be refurbished for only a small UK power stations built in the 1960's. percentage of the cost of building (Not an argument for delaying action a new one, creating considerable opport on acid rain NOW, if not before.) A few environmentalists may unities for the future of the coal in So is anyone in Britain doing anything be secretly pleased that the govern dustry. ment has chosen to hammer the coal A US engineering firm, industry, in the hope that this will Foster-Wheeler, had significant eco lead to a reduction in acid rain. But, nomic success recently when they on closer analysis, it soon becomes refurbished an old American power obvious that the government has not, station, using ever-improving techno in fact, changed the three-pronged logy. A new station would have taken approach to energy strategy - coal, seven years to build and would have conservation and nuclear - and current cost $1,200 to $1,500 per kilowatt plans to close down mines are nothing output; the rebuilt sta-tion was completed more than an attack on organised within a year, and cost $50 per kilowatt about it? Apart from existing knowledge trades unions, (conservation being output. and experience in hydro-plant refurbish the sweetener). The work is carried out inside the ment, the U K is well behind the league lt is difficult to predict exactly general structure of the plant, basically as usual. how long our reserves of oil and gas renewing the life-limiting, worn-out lt's hardly surpnsmg, considering will last. However, we do know that components. This kind of renewal the government's attitude to the coal . they are finite and that we may well could conceivably create everlasting industry generally. Their plans for reach the end of our of self-suffic power stations. Certainly, at the present more nuclear stations are paramount. iency before the end of the century. state of the technology, doubling the However, nuclear stations cannot Coal is to play a very important part station's lifetime is possible. General be refurbished, mainly due to technical in plans to replace oil and natural Electric, main competitors with difficulties and the great problems gas. This will mean opening new 'super Foster-Wheeler, refurbished a power of radio-activity, both indicating phe pits', which will be highly mechan station in Texas, which had opened nomenal costs. Nuclear energy is ised. in 1949, and claim to be able to add already replacing coal. Cockenzie The scale of the environmental at least 20 years to the life of a plant. Power Station in. East Lothain has destruction that we have seen, so Apart from the . savings in land, a bleak future if Torness Nuclear Power far, since the nuclear industry began resource and money, an important Station comes on stream in 2 years in this country is nothing compared advantage of refurbishing is the com time. The future of the coal industry with government plans to replace parative ease with which pollutant lies in electricity generation. Comm oil. The current slump in demand for cleansing technology can be incorporated itted to nuclear energy and destroying coal is only temporary, and the govern at the same time. This has particular the power of the NUM, this government ment is using the opportunity to break relevance to the U K, which will have is hardly likely to be enthusiastic about the NUM, so that by the time coal to control emissions of sulphur dioxide an idea which gives coal a brighter, becomes important again they will and nitrous oxides under growing inter cheaper and cleaner future. have a tame workforce. national pressure. The obvious necessity Technology 11/7/84 Plants required for the conversion of coal to oil and gas are giant facilities about the size of an oil refinery, which consume and pollute vast quantities Alternative for Embra of water. lt is estimated that Britain would need 33 such plants to meet its current oil needs, not to mention gas, at a cost of around £60 billion. In fact the cost of building a single Plans to build a Combined Heat polluting, safe and an opportunity 'synfuels' plant is likely to be greater & Power (CH P) scheme in Edinburgh to develop and use coal, saving thousands than the stock market value of IC I! could become a reality in the light of mining jobs instead of the nuclear A renewable energy strategy of recent developments union-basher at Torness ;. would phase out coal, but very gradually The 1982 Atkins Report included The Government is to provide as pits become exhausted. We wouldn't Edinburgh in its list of nine recomm- half the finance for a follow up survey need to open any new pits either, unless ended cities for CH P. Edinburgh is (up to £250,000) for one scheme each our conservation programmes fall particularly attractive, as a Lothian in Scotland, England and Ulster; the behind schedule. it's a strategy which, Regional Council document states, other half must come from the consor if promoted in the right way, could "Edinburgh is one of the most economic tium which must include substantial well gain more public support than locations for a whole city CH P scheme private interest. The Edinburgh consor we ever imagined possible. and has been strongly supported by tium includes the District and Regional In the unlikely event of the govern local interests, official and industrial". Councils, the SSEB and five industrial ment succeeding in smashing the NUM, The Scheme would include Cock- firms, with Associated Heat Services they'll have to come up with a plan enzie coal-fired power station feeding playing a major role (as it is in some to tame the enviromentalists, before hot water to Edinburgh along a network of the other proposed surveys). we convince too many people that of pipes, supplying homes, offices Read the next issue of SCRAM a renewable energy strategy is prefer and factories with cheap heat. One for a more detailed report, including able to the hard energy path they great advantage lies in the profusion the other cities, after the applications have mapped out for us. Watch out of old railway lines along which the have been considered by the Department they may be after you next! pipes can be laid. CH P would be non- of Energy. Pete Roche Electrical Review, 24.8.84, 14.9.84. 12 SCRAM Journal October/November '84 -Appropriate Technology and replace them. Doubts exist as artificial lakes in the world. lt was Geothermal Pump to their durability and efficiency. originally built by the Northumbrian The Weir Group, a Scottish Now, however, the Weir pump Water Authority, with no plans for based company, has designed a new is hydraulic and is only one tenth of electricity production; instead it was hydraulic pump which is seen as a the length of previous ones. A spokes to meet the forecasted rising demands major breakthrough for the future person commented on their design: for water. Demand, however, is much of geothermal energy•. "Each pump has shown hardly any less than expected, and aside from corrosion, demonstrating that, in harsh the environmental damage of the water conditions, the pump will last several level, it has been referred to as the times as long as any other 'down-hole' Big White Elephant of the Nort,h, with pump available". interest charges absorbing nearly half They have met with great success, of its revenue. exporting units to California for a The NWA and the CEGB have in geothermal power plant and to Abu stalled two turbines at the clost of Dhabi to pump oil. The prospects for £6.3 million, with a generating capacity expansion and exports are enormous, of 6MW. The hydro scheme is expected a pilot scheme near Southampton has to raise about £900,000 p.a. to be proved its worth, supplying district shared by the NWA and the CEGB. heating for 2,000 hours with no corrosion The benefits to the rest of us are less Geothermal energy is based and no cut in efficiency - unheard clear - the vast ecological damage on pumping super-hot water from of before. caused by an unnecessarily large reser deep within the earth to the surface, Scotsman, 27.8.811. voir h'as now been compounded by diverting the heat for electricity gener construction of a new 33kv power ation or for space and water heating. Kieldover line, 24 km of which runs on overhead Technical difficulties are mainly due The saga of K ielder Dam in Northum pylons, connecting the scheme to the to the design of the pumps. They are berland changes course at the end national grid. susceptible to corrosion from the salts of Septmber, when the scheme will Electrical Review 24 Aug 19811 in the water and renewal of the pumps start feeding electricity into the national Financial Times 18th Sept 1984 is frequent. The standard pumps are grid. The dam, which stores 200,000 electric and it costs a fortune to retrieve megalitres of water is one of the biggest North East Wind Northumbrian Energy Workshop is a co-operative, based in Hexham, which specialises in wind energy equip ment. They have recently developed a wind energy system for export to Mongolia, to be used by nomadic herders to supply their circular 'yurts' with electricty for radio, lighting and electric fences. Geoff Watson, the technical director, visited Mongolia in September 1982. The Northumbrian Energy Work shop then designed the windmill specifi cally for Mongolian conditions. Most of the tower structure and windmills can be manufactured locally. The fHEDARBY Mongolians will need about 20,000 Des1gneJ to he uSt·d systems over the 10 years. sp,;ce he~tmg onk or With a ilcr. The co-op has seven full-time fired by most fuels. I he fires prov1tk employees and has built up a world-wide such quaht1es as durability, cfEocncy reputation. They are dealing with and economy, that will prove both a projects in Taiwan, China, Fiji and comfort to your home and your fuel Nigeria as well as all over the UK. bilk. . I I I . They have never manufactured a specific ror tu 11 t eta! ~ S lOWlllg our windmill, always preferring to collab complete range of multi-fuel stoves orate with manufacturers equipped please contact our dealer below or to produce a certain size of wind mach wnte thrcct to the Coalbrookdale ine suitable for a specific application. Company. They import equipment from 1i various countries where they would be best for the customer. But the • Mongolians will be receiving almost exclusively British designed and built equipment. The electronic controller, OR EST for example, was developed at the 50 ST MARYS ST. EDINBURGH. 031-556-9812. National Centre for Alternative Techno THE BEST OF SAFE AND RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY logy at Machynlleth. ICOM N/L Sept 83 SCRAM Journal October/November '84 13 •Reviews The Urban Transportation of Irradiated are designed well enough to withstand had such a thing, he would be their Fuel. Eel. John Surrey. (Macmillan realistic highway or rail accidents. intellectual spokesman, and he is re Press,£5.95, 336pp) Other papers dealt with the Potential garded as such by the media. Consequences of Accidents (by the In the second part of From Red This book is the outcome of an National Radiological Protection Board), to Green, he talks· about his ideas, international conference sponsored Design and Safety of Flasks (research which is when you get the feeling by the Greater London Council which funded by the US Department of Energy), th~t he and his traditional Left ques was held in April 1983. The conference a general description of Fire Tests tioners are from two different worlds:- was organised by a private consultancy and so on. on behalf of the GLC. They attempted While some of the papers are inter NLR: lt can be scientifically shown to recruit speakers with a wide range esting, overall the book is a disappoint that the eight billion people you talk of views to make the conference as ment. lt's a pity that the GLC didn't about could reach a higher standard unbiassed as possible. However, as see fit to organise this conference of living than that of the Poles today. the CEGB refused to appear, delegates themselves they . would probably Bahro: But how long could they keep were unable to question their safety have done a better job. At £5.95 this it up? procedures. Even so, the majority book is not worth buying and it is often Bahro no longer has the faith of speakers were generally in support tediously boring. If you are gathering in science with its smooth glittering of the status quo in the nuclear industry. information on nuclear waste transport, Futures, which are easier to imagine Lord Flowers opened the conference and need pointers to research, or simply than the details of the next hundred by asking delegates to ignore more to questions which need to be answered, years or so. However, although he general issues such as the need for then I think that "The Next Nuclear has denounced 'Marx's hymn to bourgeois nuclear power, and spoke of the need Gamble" by Marvin Resnikoff is far industrialism', and become much more to reassure the public. This, he felt, more useful. readable in the process, he still has could be achieved by the Government's Pete Roche that Marxist holism, that desire for appointing an independent team of everything or nothing, and he is still expert assessors. Des Wilson of Friends backing world-history, but now it's of the Earth took the opposite point the outsider ridden by Ecology; class of view and stated: "We are wrongly conflict has taken a tumble. This gives transporting the wrong product in him an inspiring urgency, but also order to implement the wrong policy a sense that he is hyper-jumping from for the wrong reasons." He goes on one dogma to another. He is fiery to describe very succinctly the and abstract, unlike such earthy radicals arguments against nuclear power and as E P Thompson, who inherits a radical the alternative options open to us. From Red to Green: Interviews with tradition (Biake, Morris, Cobbett, His. paper is, in fact, a very useful the New Left Review by Rudolf Bahro even Orwell) which always gives the summary of the anti-nuclear case, (Verso, £5.95.) but rather out of place in this book. David Pearce talked about planning The first half of From Red to issues in relation to waste transport, Green deals with Bahro's life in East and suggested that there should be Germany. He was a Party member a planning inquiry commission to sort who was imprisoned after writing out the general issues, but only if The Alternative in Eastern Europe, public concern warrants it. He misses not for its dullness, length, and Marxist what is surely a very important point jargon, which would have been grounds for a planner:- Why do electricity enough, but for its message, which specific detail of ugliness or want. boards insist on applying for permission is that from a Marxist point of view They hated the inhuman, stunting, for power stations on a piecemeal a state-controlled society is as alienating 'industrial' as well as the unjust and basis? why can't they apply for pylon as a capitalist one if both are run exploiting 'capitalism'. Their kind routes, workcamps, railheads, railroutes, by and for industry. Bahro calls himself of anti-industrialism should inspire and so on, all at the same time as 'naive', and though intellectuals in those following it with a sense that the power station? Eastern Europe have to be fairly Strasse any new technology is guilty until Fred Millar, in one of the most wise, he does have a particular and proven innocent. useful papers, pointed out that there honourable kind of intellectual's naivety But Bahro has to turn it into have emerged enough credible safety - he won't shut up, even when he's a religion.And perhaps that's the only problems with the US spent fuel casks speaking to State Security agents, force strong enough to combat techno for the nuclear industry's assurances and he won't stop pointing out that logy's power.But his early Christian to be more and more . frequently dis people's behaviour is inconsistent with parallels, of an empire utterly changed believed. There isn't even any need their principles, and then be surprised by the new religion calls to mind the to transport nuclear waste in the US. when they get annoyed. He was reason persecutions and the loss of the best They have no reprocessing, and on-site ably treated in prison, for since the of paganism.And the last crowd to dry cask storage can be built before Helsinki conference, political prisoners destroy 'the world of greed and machines' space in the storage ponds runs out. have had better conditions, and after as they called it were the Khmer Rouge, Marvin Resnikoff of the Independent some pressure from West Germany, who got rid of every hospital, telephone Council on Economic Priorities brought was released and sent there.He gave and a quarter of the population of another note of sceptidsm to the a speech at the founding of the Green Kampuchea. Then again, anti-industrial conference. The Council believes that party at Offenbach in 1979, where ism might be an idea whose time has the transport of irradiated fuel as he called for socialists, Christians, come, but ideas don't cross borders currently practised in the US is unsafe. and ecologists to come together for as readily as duty-free gadgets and They do not believe that the casks human emancipation. If the Greens weapons. Iran puts its women into 111 SCRAM Journal October/November '811 veils in a bid to root out Western satan geographical position and because our "exploitive [sic} society results ism, but keeps Western missiles and it exports much of its air pollution. in the decimation of natural resources planes. England, Scotland and Wales suffer as well as the exploitation of people." Still, for anyone wanting to pick increasing damage from rain as acidic lt then states (excuse the pun) up on the Red to Green debate, this as that in Scandanavia. that "although the possibilities of is a good introduction, along with The section on the existing techno self-destruction are immense, so are Bahro's Socialism and Survival and logy to attain clean air goes into more the possibilities of creating a satisfying, Exterminism and the Cold War, which detail than most reports, showing free and reasonably fed world, through includes essays by him and E P Thomp the efficiency of various methods a rational approach to agriculture, son. Ecologists should have a good and possibilities for the future. transport and production," controlled time, if they weren't too nice, saying However, the most important point by people, not by bureaucracies. "we told you so" to all those leftists Elsworth deals with is the economic The rest of the magazine consists who told them they were bourgeois weapon the government and the CEGB of news, articles slanted towards the romantics. use. They can give costs for desulphur- · Third World, economics and land reform, R M Bell isation, but costs of damage to buildings, reviews, and even a recipe. crops, lakes, forests, etc. are much Green Anarchist is a refreshing harder to quantify, a position extensively change from most anarchist periodicals Acid Rain by Steve Elsworth, (Piuto exploited by the CEGB in its figures which concentrate on heaping scorn Press, £3.95, t54pp) for domestic UK consumption. The on anyone who doesn't conform to Acid Rain is a book long overdue, reality of the economics is put well their narrow viewpoint. The first issues not only in explaining clearly the often by the Head of the Organisation for shows that is has the potential of be complex events leading up to the con Economic Co-operation and Develop coming a forum for ideas on how an sequences of various pollutants, but ment:- anarchist and ecological society would more importantly, in emphatically work, and how it could be achieved. ridiculing the pig-headed position "Acid rain is a good example of a prob lem that is fairly well understood (Subscription: £4 for 10 issues. s. and for which the technology of control, scriptions and articles, news, photos --- in the sense of a reduction of emissions, etc to 68a Cassiobury Park Avenue, exists. The main issue is not really Watford Herts. WDt 7LE. Available the balance between costs and benefits from the Smiling Sun Shop, 11 Forth of control, although it is often so repre Street, Edinburgh) sented. The principal source of contro of the U K govt and their fellow versy is who should bear the environ AndyWatson heel-draggers, the CEGB. mental costs associated with coal The position of "research before action" -on reducing emissions of so2 is treated as laughable by concerned Peace Moves: Nuclear Protest in the citizens, foreign governments and 1980's by Ed Barber. (Chatto & Windus, scientists. As the Canadian Minister £4.95, 66pp) for the Environment said about countries who prefer the British mode of in Peace Moves is a photo book activity:-lt's a bit like saying it looks that attempts to show the public the like a skunk, it walks like a skunk burning, and how and when these nuclear protester up against the peri and it's stinking the house up like a costs should be borne. meter fence. The 66 black and white skunk, but we are not prepared to The point is that the costs will be commit ourselves that it is a skunk borne: they cannot be avoided. (original without four more years of research! emphasis) Elsworth examines in detail many The _book is full of snippets like of the CEGB arguments for delays, this from a wide range of people. 1t unearthing the hidden implications. ·is easy to read (relief) and it leaves He outlines the history of research, you with the feeling that some things effects and emission control throughout need doing, not least of which is the the world, and shows that acid rain . wide dispersal of this book. Read it. is not a new problem emerging out George Baxter of the blue, as the CEGB would like photographs are all shot around Green us to believe, but one which has been ham Common; alas, there is no coverage with us since mass industrialisation. of the many bases in Scotland. The Indeed, 1306 A.O. is the date of the From Black to Green photographs are well chosen by an oldest known complaint of sulphurous obviously experienced photo-journalist, fumes from fossil-fuels, and so far A group of people, some of whom and cover what the media has tended no less than 3,000 studies have been are involved with Green-Line, the not to see. They are all to the point, conducted. magazine of the green movement, all have some message to tell, and After a chapter which describes and others who were involved with include pictures of celebrities such acidification throughout the world, Freedom, the anarchist monthly, re as Annajoy David and Bruce Kent. from Australia to the Arctic, it becomes cently came together to produce Green Book presentation, printing and binding obvious that acid rain is most definitely Anarchist magazine. are all good, and make good value an international environmental crisis The first page explains that for money at £4.95 softback. demanding international action, par anarchism and ecology have similar ticularly by Britain because of its traditions and aspirations, and that Nic Janusewicz SCRAM Journal October/November 184 15 -Diary October to the starvtng'• Campatgn, Peace Corner, Room;, Georg•• Street. fdtnburgh 5 7 Blacksmithing: A practrcal course Old Weston Road, Brmgton. near Hunt 7. JOpm for beginners and thos" wrth little ingdon. Cambs. PE 17 I 0 Schumacher Memorial Lectures prcvoous cxperi<•roc •.. Tht: tourse woll 23 Torness Public Inquiry Transport 1984 Lcctures on prone~ples on archt Cl)VCr baSH forgony techniqueS ancf of Nuclc•ar Wastt-- (SSEB v East l otlloan t••c tore, ccologo( al development on an ontroductoon to l astrng and Si!ndrng. IJoqrot t Counc ill Con tat l. SC HAM Ladakh and the Sarvod.aya VIllage Centre for t\lternatove Technology, on ss 1 lt2R3 D. vclopmcnt .\1ovcm<:nt tn Sro Lanka. Mac hynlleth, Powys, W,11cs. Tel. 21 27CND Week of Action Adv,1nce IICkPts. Schumacher Soc tety, 06<;4 21100 27 N ,.:._"TT't'>~! .. ,._ ~P"' ;A,..ll""' J CND I LOTTERY l ft'll_le),of' l t• ~• I t, vts P'l~ a1.1lr_. fat P'lo DISARM & W IN! On a visit to the Torness construc the job. Then once the job was finished, tion site recently Little Black Rabbit another contract started. The team heard rumours of an interesting new for the new contract was virtually approach to industrial relations. lt the same as for the previous one! sounded so innovative it had to be seen So all the talk of not employing to be believed. Comfortably provistoned loLal labour on site seems to be false tn the Torness Rabbit Warren Little they are employed but as 'part time' Black Rabbtt awaited proof. short contract employees. If they Towards the end of a contract can manage to complete the contrilct the workers, knowing their employment properly when the usual team cannot, was coming to an end, started to slow why are local workers not employed up and make more deliberate mistakes permanently on the construction' in order to extend the contract. Our intrepid reporter realised that this practice could result in serious problems if the reactors ever started up (as at Heysham). Fortunately the site management also twigged, but how soon? The whole workfor ce was paid off before the end of the contract (with a handy bonus too!) and local contractors were taken on to complete Communily Communications os a collective r - ~------ ----, al pr~cnt involved in making 1apes with the YES, I We wish to subscribe· people at lhe Royal Blind School, Edinburgh. ' SUBSCRIPTION FORM I We arc also aiming to make tapes of SCRAM Journal annual subscription rat., the SCRAM .~s and some I !Name ...... : Green I Sub {or six i••ue' ...... £7 publlcattaorrs::-~-- :J' 1· 1Q, cn.eu ...... £9 monc~ ord er A ddress ...... I :~~~~:~~-~~ .:~:~ people with • as ln,litutlon• ...... £12 1 t"':"'~...... _iQ,.JQJic;.lur.i.l.b.~~ • l SupportlnR sub...... ££ 10 SeCtr uRmAMto, forth St...... I ity Communications life wh ...... 50 11 J I I Street Household 'uh ...... £30 EDINBURGH I 3LE ...... Tel No ...... I h l l ~------~ =--==~==~~~----~:;~~~~ I History Accidents In 1946 work star ted on two atomic piles More than 300 accidents of "reportable at Windscale, the former. ordnance f!!~t<;>ry significance" have occurred at the Windscale in Cumbria, under the ausprces of the Drvrsron site. Most were restricted to "on-site" incidents: of Atomic Energy at the Ministry of Supply. workers receiving exposures exceeding !nter This followed the 1945 decision by the British national l imits, malfunctions of machmery government to produce atomic weap_or:-s. Tt~e and various spillages and "mi!1or" fires. Several two gas graphite reactors went 'crrtrcal' m incidents deserve special mentron: 1950 and the now infamous reprocessing plant was under construction. In 1952 the first British Bomb was expl oded and a hydrogen Bomb foll 1955 The works manager, who subsequently owed in 1957. died of Multiple ~yeloma, led a team to work on a reactor face to avert a The Magnox reactors were built at Calder catastrophe. Although "potentially very Hall, adjacent to Windscale, in 1956. This serious", not reveal ea for a year. supplemented the plutonium production of the piles. The name 'Magnox' came from the 1957 The "Windscale fire". 20,000 curies of magnesium alloy used for the fuel rods. The lodine-137 released from the number reactors were scaled up for the first gener one plutonium- producing pile. Two million ation of nuclear power stations. After the litres of milk poured away and between 1957 fire, Cal der Hall became the only UK 250 and 2500 cancers, 12 to 250 fatal, source of plutonium. produced. The second nuclear reactor programme, 1976 A leak of radioactive water from a silo the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AG R), reported to the Energy Secretary one also started at Windscale where the prototype month after its discovery. lt is still leaking. was built. lt was developed from the Magnox design and was hoped to make nuclear power 1978 Contaminated clay discovered from competitive with coal. The AG R's are a commer a leak years earlier; 100,000 curies of cial catastrophe; the lead station, Dungeness radioactive strontium and caesium had B, was 12 years late and, in 1984, is stnl not leached into the subsoil. fully commissioned. 1981 An attempt to reprocess insufficiently In 1954 the plant was transferred to cooled fuel rods released lodine137. the UK Atomic Energy Authority and, following Milk found to contain 2500 times the the 1971 Atomic Energy Act, ownership passea normal level of contaminationi BN FL to the newly created British Nuclear Fuels pronounced it "perfectly safe to drmk". Limited (BNFL). Sellafield appeared in 1981 when BNFL chang~d the plant'~. name in .an 1983 Purex solvent and crud released into attempt to dissocrate the facrlrty from rts the Irish Sea. Green9.eace divers well- deserved reputation. contaminated and 25 mrles of beach closed off. BNFL to be prosecuted for At present pl ans exist for a new pl ant, this accident. the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP), to deal with AG R and forergn Light Water Reactor (LWR) spent fue l. To date thrs material BNFL constantly claim to have a good has been stored on site in huge cooling ponds; safety record yet all ~EUlt.i. .are in- . a tempting target for terrorists and a serious herently similar, a resu o olmll!q!ilm!OJll'flf!ori~ ~ liability in the event of war, '!"heth~r _ c_onv~n- instructions, instrume ation nr0ri torrng .an tional or nuclear. Also planned rs a vrtrrfrcatron emergency planning c rn outl~~~~LE.:!:.!.onnel . plant for the solidification of high level nuclear error. J wastes. ~~- V scale is the 'dirtiest' reprocessing plant bar none. . , lt...il kHliD9 .e.~le._ ...... _... -- - - · ~r·,-~.' Effects on Health Home & Abroad In Cumbria many people have a gut reac This d1sease is a consequence of plutonium con A country can· choose to develop repro tion to what they believe IS the cause of wide tamination. cessing for one of three reasons: Military, Co Wlndscale spread ill healtti, Windscale. Those who lived Sir Douglas Black's report confirms the mmercial and Research & Devel~ment. here when it was a clean rural area have watched findings made public by Yorkshire Television All the countries with nuclear weapons have the incidence of cancer increase. in the documentary 'Windscale - the Nuclear military reprocessing facilities: Britain, France, Children in East Cumbria stiU enjoy a cancer· LaundrY.'· Childhood leukaemia is ten times the USA, USSR and China. rate 25% below the national average whilst in natienal average in Seascale (the closest village Only two countries operate commercial The Site & Employment the West the rate is 25% above. to Windscale) and five times higher in Waber facilities: Britain at Windscale and France at The sea discharges alone ( ie. excluding thwaite and Bootle. La Hague. These plants reprocess spent fuel The Windscale and Calderhall complex all the accidents ana aerial emmissions) cause Black also acceP.ted that the only known for bofh their own electricity boards and for comprises four 50MW Magnox reactors, a small 2-3 cancer deaths each year, 2-3 nonfatal cancers cause of childhood leukaemia is radiation. These foreign customers. BNFL has contracts with AG R (now defunct) and ttle reprocessing facility and 2-3 genetic defects for each year's output are not the only diseases· suffered by the people Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Holland and which dominates the site. The reprocessmg plant from the pipe Iine. This is based on the most of Cumbria, and further afield, as a result of West Germany, boasting an overseas order-book operates around the clock, day in day out, stopping optimistic dose models, and is accepted by BNFL. Windscale's operations. Heart disease, diabetes, worth £2,700 mi 11 ion. only for the annual shut-down. The two diseases which establish the impact brain tumours and signs of premature aging may Ten countries have, or are building, pilot Two to three shipments of spent fuel arrive of Windscale on health and the environment result from low level doses of radiation over plants as a part of their R & D efforts: Argentina, each day,~ of four or five flasks. The ori_gin varies: are multiple myeloma and childhood leukaemia, a long_ period· of time. Belgium, Brazil, India, Italy, Israel, Japan, Pak coming rrom UK Magnox and AGR nuclear power both are extremely rare and are known to be What is of major concern is the genetic istan S~in and West Germany. stations, UK military establishments, from Europe, radiation induced. Studies undertaken in south consequences of Windscale's operations, which R&D is often a cover for military activ via east coast ports, and from Japan. via Barrow ·west Cumbria show that multiple myeloma rates could take generations to appear. lt is already ities. The Argentine plant, for instance, will docks. are equalled only in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. too late for many families. provide enough plutonium for 10 bombs a year. The spent Magnox fuel rods are stored The · reprocessing business of Bntain and for a ~eriod to 'coor down' before reprocessing. France is used to just1fy the spread of reprocessing The AG R, and much of the foreign spent fuel technology by Countries witn military ambitions. cannot yet be dealt with and is stored at Wind Thus if the link with Britain's own bombs was scale in huge tanks - a risk to which Cumbrians Uranium broken, Windscale would continue to fuel the are exposed m the 'national interest'. The Windscale Connection ar"1s .r~ce by legitamising ambiguous civil/military The local . economic 'importance' of Wind + act1v1t1es. scale is enormous•. BNFL is the biggest single Mining /Depleted Uranium Ammunition employer in what has always been an economic + blacksP-ot. Out of a county p_opulation of 500,c000, Enrichment ~-~ Bombs for Britain ... about 7,000 people work at Windscale and 1 ..!,000 Fu!