., Th~ Safe Energy ,J - Journal -

July I August 19 88 75p

Before the Flood Greenhouse Effect

Plutonium Fl ights of Fancy

Ministry of Truth - Chernobyl Lies CONTENTS COMMENT

Flights of Fancy? 3 In the words of Or Tom Wheldon, at the Fourth STEVE MARTIN reviews the regulatory Annual Low Level Radiation and Health Conference log-jam in the US over planned held in Stirling, to say that radiation has existed in plutonium flights from Europe to Japan. the environment since the dawn of humankind and News 4-7 is therefore not a problem is just as daft as saying Ministry of Truth 8-9 that crocodiles have been around since the begin­ PATRICK GREEN accuses MAFF of ning with no perceived adverse effects - they will trying to rewrite history in their evidence to the Agriculture Com­ still bite your leg off, given half a chance. mittee. The Irresistible Force 10-11 The second report on the incidence of childhood meets the Immovable Object leukaemia near Dounreay from COMARE, of which ANDREW HOLMES asks what will Or Wheldon is a member, is a valuable contribution happen to nuclear research after privatisation. to the debate; but don't forget what happened to Snug as a Bug ••• 12 the 1976 Flowers Report. For the uninitiated, DON ARNOTT assesses the evidence Flowers recommended, among other things, that no that bacteria have been found in the large scale nuclear power ordering programme be burned-out core of the Three Mile Is­ land reactor. embarked on until the nuclear waste problem had Milk of Human Kindness? 14-15 been solved. Since then we have had ordered and FELICITY ARBUTHNOTT & TONY commissioned Torness, Heysham 2; ordered Sizewell WEBB reveal that food contaminated B; proposed Hinkley C, Wylfa B, Sizewell C; and a after Chernobyl has been dumped in the developing world. public inquiry has been held into the Dounreay Norwegian's Would 16-17 EDRP. Question to all governments since 197 6: - UK Wouldn't •ooes this, or does this not, represent a large scale DAVID ROSS shows how the nuclear nuclear power ordering programme?" industry 'proved' that wave power was too expensive. Before the Flood 18-19 It could be argued the public were not as educated MIKE TOWNSLEY looks at the then as they are now; and we have had TMI and evidence that burning fossil fuels Is Chernobyl. Also, our children's health is an emotive going to dramatically affect the subject. world's climate - the Greenhouse Ef­ fect. of Water Power The COMARE report states that there is something In the first of two articles Cdr common at Sellafield and Dounreay which could be GEORGE CHAPMAN gives a back­ contributing to elevated childhood leukaemia in­ ground briefing on water power tech­ cidence. Privately, COMARE members say that it nology. Appropriate Technology News 23-25 is radioactive discharges which should be addressed. Reviews 26-27 Uttle Black Rabbit 28 They call for a further study period to try to con­ firm this. The Scottish Office Health Minister (and Views expressed in articles appearing general Pooh-Bah}, speaking for the Government, in this Journal are not necessarily accepted in principle the Committee's recommenda­ those of SCRAM. tions for further work. He said, •u is hoped that this work will advance our knowledge in this area.• Editor: Steve Martin We agree, but should we not cease discharge opera­ News: Pete Roche Safe Energy: Mike Townsley tions until after the studies have reported? After all, suspected criminals can be kept on remand for This Journal is produced for the months before they are found innocent at a trial. British Anti-Nuclear and Safe Energy movements by the Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace The Flowers report also opined on the plutonium (SCRAM). economy. On the return of plutonium to foreign customers: "As a matter of policy, such plutonium We welcome contributions of articles, should be returned only in the form of mixed fuel news, graphics and photographs. elements designed to suit an existing power reac­ Deadline for feature articles for the tor. • On civil liberties: surveillance activities on next issue: 12 August. the general public might include •the use of in­ (Please try and keep contributions to formers, infiltrators, wiretapping, checking on bank 600 words per page) accounts and the opening of mail;• these activities ISSN 0140 7340 Bi-monthly. are •highly likely, and indeed inevitable• and no doubt •are already applied to certain small groups SCRAM, 11 Forth Street, Edinburgh that are regarded as dangerous." True, but banal: EH1 3LE. Tel: 031 557 4283/4. confused?

2 SCRAM 66, JUlY/AUGUST 1988 Some members of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission feel their current licensing criteria for plutonium air transport flasks "approach the upper limit" for designing a suitable flask for plutonium shipments from Europe to Japan. STEVE MARTIN reviews the progress of the debate in the US Congress and assesses how it may affect the planned air transports.

The US State Department have assured Congress that no transports of plutonium oxide powder from Europe to Japan will be allowed to go ahead, under a recently­ ratified Nuclear Co-operation Agreement between the US and Japan, unless a proposed flask is certified under the extremely stringent Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations. US-Japan Agreement includes an annex of guide­ The so.. called Murkowski amendment, enacted into lines for the transports. They include the following: US law last year, requires a plutonium air shipment flask to be tested under stresses likely to occur in e The shipment will be accompanied by armed a worst case accident. In fact Congress approved escorts to protect the cargo. an amendment earlier this year which will allow e "Determination of trustworthiness" will be the NRC to require crashing an aircraft to test the made for people involved with the shipment, includ­ performance of a proposed flask. ing "ground personnel". e Relevant authorities, including police or Some NRC oHicials believe impact forces gen­ other armed personnel, will hove to protect the erated in sueh an accident could exceed by a fac­ aircraft at any airport against theft or sabotage. tor of two to three those previously considered in their 1978 regulations. One source felt the 1978 LOCAL AUTHORITIES •HORRIFIED• regulations 11Qpproach the upper limit" for a practi­ cal design of air transport flask. Using such worst British Nuclear Fuels admit that "Prestwick is the case criteria could effectively preclude air ship­ currently preferred airport for such shipments ( frG>m ments of plutonium from Europe to Japan. the UK to Japan) on both operational and cost grounds," due to a suitable length of runway for o A further complication for flask design licensing B747 freighter, and its proximity to Sellofield. has arisen. Following intense lobbying by Canadian and Alaskan authorit\es the aircraft will no longer Councillor Brendo Campbell, Convener of Environ­ be allowed to land at Anchorage airport in Alaska mental Services of Kyle and Carrick District Coun­ for refuelling; indeed the flights will not be al­ cil, is "horrified" by the prospect. She says that lowed to enter US airspace. However, the US State Kyle and Carrick District remain "implacably Department will allow the aircraft to land at a opposed" to these shipments. Prestwick Councillor remote military base in the event of an emergency. John Bailey of Strathclyde Regional Council is "very concerned that US authorities may at some FUGHTS THROUGH A COMBAT ZONE? time become involved with vetting civilian workers at Prestwick airport. If this happened I would raise Even if these obstacles can be overcome, thete are it with the Region, in its role os o Police still other problems waiting in the wings. The re­ Authority." quirement for non-stop flights to Japan is stretch­ ing the capabilities of present aircraft design. The Strathclyde Region ore seeking a meeting with State Department have "determined that, within the BNFL to discuss the proposed flights, and they will near future, there wUl be aircraft capable of trans­ be working closely with Kyle and Carrick District porting plutonium from Europe to Japan nonstop, on this issue. using a polar route that would not require over­ flights of the US, Canada, or any other eountry." However, if the regulatory log jams in the US are By implication, no such aircraft currently exists. not resolved the flights may not take place at all. But, President Reogan is keeping a cord up his In a letter from President Reagan to the chairman sleeve: the Department of Defense "has determined of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, dated that civilian (sea) shipment, given a military escort, 29 January 1988, the issue of using a US military would provide a level of physical security equiv­ base was addressed: "the Department of Defense alent to that afforded by civilian air transport." has determined that there are possible routes utiliz­ This has been done before: in 1984, a 250kg con­ ing US military facUlties in the Aleutians for re• signment of plutonium oxide sailed from France to fuellng." This part of the world is practically a Japan with an military escort from France, Japan, combat zone in the US/USSR confrontation, and US and the UK, and satellite surveillance. At the decidedly trigger-happy. One has only to recall the time the US told the Japanese that future sea Korean Air Lines 007 incident. shipments would not be approved, because of the great costs involved. But now they may hove to Civil liberties could also be seriously eroded. The reconsider.

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 3 ~P_R_I_V_AT_I_S_A_T_IO_N_N_O__ TE_S ______~~~

The creation of a 'free market' sidered too precious to burn, is The UK may, in fact, rescue assumes "equality of opportunity now abundant; and a new fuel the West German industry by between participants," according known as Orimulsion - a cross taking French imports as part of to Andrew Holmes, the author of between coal and oil - fram the 'non-fossil fuel' quota. But it a new report from Financial Venezuela is Hkely to make an must be borne in mind that the Times Business Information; yet Impact. French definition of production in the context of a European On UK privatisation, Holmes cost bears no relation to the Electricity Industry no such thing asserts that the needs of the overall cost of the nuclear pro­ exists. consumer are already met to a gramme, as it makes no al­ The report • Electricity bi Eur­ greater extent than in most lowances for EdF's staggering ope: Opening the Market - exam­ countries, and the Government long term debt. ines the prospects over the next have failed to explain how they The danger for European elec­ decade as several countries plan will be improved by privati­ tricity, at present, is that the structural and ownership changes, sation: judging which of the new feverish desire for structural and the EEC plans to include utilities will have the necessary change will become contagious electricity in the "single internal entrepreneurial r------~~------~------, market." spirit to become Table 5.1: NllCI.tt\a POWEitt>UjllT CAPAcrn' OFEUROPI: (GWuet}. However, conditions in each successful "will · ANDPROJECnONS country are very different. The make an interest­ West Germans, for example, are ing task for the forced to support an ailing nation's invest­ 1987 1990 domestic coal industry and bear ment analysts." Belgium. 4.5 s~s *'"·~s stringent environmental legis­ He added: "The J'iB~· .. 2;.3 2 .. l iU lation; whereas the French have notion that com­ Franc:e ~s., ··sz.s {l(i~) been free to develop as much petition will make Germany 0.8 l~ .• l lU ·23.{1 ltaly .Oi6 !.3 l.l $d nuclear power as the country can electricity supply NeUlellam'b 0.1 o.s ().5 o.s hold and run up a foreign debt of more efficient is Spain 0.1 4.1 1.5 3.4 $39 billion in the process. Be­ an interesting hy­ s~ 1}~5 11.6· 9.6 cause this debt is not reflected pothesis, but no Sw.ii.W~ <1.4 2.9 2.9 2.9 in the selling price, the German more than that. UK '4.2 j,Z .. 12.6 12.~ industry is vulnerable to the No proof of it Y~.~&oillnit~· 0.6 &;i 0.5 French 'dumping' their surpluses. can be derived Also the European 'fuel mix' is from foreign ESls changing. Nuclear power is no (Electricity Supply longer on the agenda in most of Industries), be­ Europe: German politicians now cause nowhere has competition without making any differences talk about it as a 'transitional' ever been more than a marginal to the problems which will have source bridging the gap between consideration." to be faced in the 1990s. The coal and renew-abies; in Spain Holmes concludes that an en­ irony is that US examples are the overambitious nuclear pro­ tirely open electricity market in frequently quoted to show what gramme has exacerbated the in­ Europe is "a figment of the im­ free enterprise can achieve; yet dustry's financial problems and agination." Many countries will in most cases it has been the led to its restructuring. allow new private generators Public Utility Commissions • Coal is cheaper than 1970's access to their grids, but this arms of local government - which forecasters ever imagined it can easily be achieved without have brought new and innovative could be; natural gas, once con re-organising the industry. practices into being.

Market. coal to the CEGB is £42/tonne, The CEGB claim their current at which level BC can barely policy of burning mostly in­ make a profit. Imported coal is digenous coal costs them around available at £25/tonne Including £750 million each year. Using transhipment costs. Although the imported coal could lead to a price cannot remain at this level lowering of electricity costs. But forever, it is unlikely to rise some of the potential benefit will above £33-38/tonne. be lost by requiring the industry British Coal are partly pro­ to meet part of its fuel require­ tected by the upward pressure on ments from high cost nuclear world prices which would be sources. The Institute also caused by UK Imports, and the describe nuclear power as cost of transporting coal to in­ "uneconomic on any commercial land power stations. But to fight criteria." off substantial imports, British Although there are a great Coal will need a favourable ex­ The UK coal industry could face many uncertainties surrounding change rate; higher world prices; a new wave of closures following the impact which privatisation continuing uncertainty in South privatisation of the electricity can be expected to have on Africa; serious problems with supply industry, according to the British Coal, it is clear they can nuclear power; and a substantloi Institute for Fiscal Studies, in a no longer expect to be the sole fall in production costs. The recent report - Privatising Elec­ supplier of coal in the UK. chances of a large increase in tricity: Impact on the UK Energy The average price of British imports is, therefore, high.

4 SCRAM 66, JUL. YI AUGUST 1988 NEWS

zie scram no. 68 blz. 5

Emergency Planning . . - - · · · .·. ·sellafield Malpractice·:·~ "'

The evacuation of cities in the sequently they are the last to be Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioac­ event of a nuclear accident informed, so Greater Manchester tive Environment (CORE) and would be virtually impossible - might not find out about on ac­ Greenpeoce hove published a with the possible exception of cident for 5 or 6 hours. report which reveals a cavalier pregnant women and children - He concluded that unless there attitude towards worker health and it is highly unlikely that suf­ is a properly planned and co­ and safety at Sellofield. ficient quantities of iodine tablets ordinated response, coupled with The report - Behind Closed would be available. This is the an improved warning system from Doors: Malpractice and Incidents conclusion of a recently published the CEGB, the people of Greater at Sellafield - alleges that report on the consequences of a Manchester, despite the best ef­ worker radiation dose records nuclear accident at Trawsfynydd. forts of the emergency services, were deliberately falsified; a Greater Manchester Fire and would be left virtually unpro­ number of serious accidents went Civil Defence Authority initiated tected. unreported; radiation monitoring their study - Operation Spring The report recommends that systems ar>d safety procedures Mist - following the proposed the Government should recognise were avoided; and there was cri­ test at Trawsfynydd in February. the possibility of a domestic tical understaffing in some active CUr Sean Rogers, chair of Grea­ nuclear accident and draw up ap­ areas. ter Manchester•s Emergency Plan­ propriate emergency plans. It also The allegations are made even ning Committee, claimed if the calls for the closure of Trows­ more disturbing because of the test had gone wrong Chernobyl fynydd and the abandonment of alleged weaknesses in w-arker would look like 11a tea party• 11 plans for a PWR in north Wales. radiation dose recording proce­ Magnesium oxide fuel cans used It is indeed fortunate that the dures and the fact that this at­ in Trawsfynydd are flammable, Trowsfynydd test was cancelled: titude is encouraged by super­ unlike those in Chernobyl, and reactor 1 was closed down for its visors under pressure from could lead to a 13-30% release of biennial maintenance on 12 Feb­ management to get the job done. the fuel inventory, compared with ruary 1988; it should have re­ Information in the report come only 4-7% at Chernobyl. started about 8 weeks later. from three Sellafield workers, The Chief Emergency Planning However, some 4 months later, and covers a ten year period. A Officer found that there were no the CEGB are still unable to huge number of contaminations speelfle contingency plans, at a confirm when it will restart, fol­ and breaches in safety regulations local or notional level, because lowing the discovery of weld de­ ore alleged, which the Nuclear the Government refuses to ac­ fects. The Board have given Installations Inspectorate have knowledge the possibility of a scant details of the faults, but it apparently never been told about. domestic: nuclear accident. Nor appears a thorough inspection was The identity of the Informants does the Government see any not undertaken before the test has been kept secret for fear role for local authorities. Conse- was proposed. that they might be prosecuted under Section 2 of the Official US Accidents Report - · Secrets Act. A copy of the report has been More than 26,000 accidents have • Oyster Creek in New Jersey de­ sent to the Nil, together with a occurred at US reactors since the graded the plant1s ability to con­ request that they set up a proce­ Three Mile Island accident nine trol pressure build-up in the dure whereby workers con ap­ years ago - 3,000 in 1987 alone. event of an accident in vtulation proach them in complete con­ This is the claim of a new of NRC regulations. fidence to voice their safety report by US consumer group, e At Pilgrim, Massachusetts, 19 fears. This is the only way, soy Public Citizen. The group say workers were contaminated in a CORE, that they might stand a that despite promises to tighten series of leaks caused by incom­ chance of stamping out bad prac­ safety standards, 11 the safety plete maintenance work. tices at Sellafield. record of the nuclear industry remains abysmal.11 For the ninth year in succes­ Contact: CORE, 98 Church St, At least 1,000 of the accidents sion, US commercial nuclear Barrow-ln-Furness, Cumbria. T el: were particularly significant ac­ plants operated at less than 60% 0229 33851. cording to the Nuclear Reg­ of their capacity. Nuclear power ulatory Commission, and they supplies only 17% of total US Dose Umlts , .. , ·I, ~- -·, have estimated the chance of a electricity, while overcapacity major meltdown within the next stands at over 30%. US worker dose limits are un­ 20 years to be as high as 45%. Public Citizen have called for likely to be revised to bring the rapid phase out of nuclear them into line with proposals by e During 1987 the Peach Bot­ power: all plants under construc­ the UK National Radiological tom plant in Pennsylvania was tion should be halted; any plant Protection Board. closed by the NRC because oper­ currently closed for safety rea­ The Nueleor Regulatory Com­ ators were found to be regularly sons should be retired; those mission do not think the expense sleeping on the job. A nuclear plants considered to be the most is justified, especially when most industry safety organisation de­ dangerous should be retired, ex­ workers receive far less than the scribed the management at Peach cept where they are required to 5 rem/year limit. The NRPB has Bottom as 11an embarrassment to meet local energy needs; and all recommended that workers should • the nation.•• remaining plants should be closed not exceed an effective dose of e Also in 1987, operators at as soon as possible. 1.5 rem/year.

:U..V I AUQJST 1988, SCRAM 66 5 I NEWS

A proposed Local Authorities ment it. But this will depend on The Government's Advisory Coun­ Radiation and Radioactivity Mon­ the Department of Environment cil on Science and Technology itoring and Collation Centre informing the Centre Immediately (ACOST) believe there Is no jus­ should be able to provide a na­ in the event of an emergency, tification for future public in­ tional database Independent of and allowing them access to data quiries to be as long as Sizewell the Government and the nuclear collected by government agencies. 8, "because the main issues have industry. The Centre has been The Centre would then be able now been adequately examined." agreed in principle, with the aim to make a preliminary assessment ACOST, which includes several of advising and co-ordinating the of the likely impact of the people who previously argued activities of the 150+ local auth­ emergency and alert local strongly in favour of the AGR, orities carrying out radiation authorities to monitoring pri­ such as ex-SSEB chairman Sir monitoring. orities. An independent assess­ Frank Tombs, also conclude that The Convent ion of Scottish Lo­ ment of counter measures could there is no point in spending cal Authorities, the Association then be made. money keeping open the AGR op­ of Metropolitan Authorities, the No firm commitment to fund tion - its future resurrection af­ Association of County Councils the Centre has yet been agreed, ter a period of inactivity will re­ and the Association of District but with running costs for the sult in heavy financial penalties. Councils are all involved. first year of only £85,000, and Even the pro-AGR SSEB require For several months a group of the possibility of aid from the no new capacity before the end officers has been considering the .European Community, each auth­ of the century, and they are said possible benefits of setting up ority's contribution should be to be looking at new coal-fired the Centre. Guidance would be quite small. capacity to replace the ageing given on the design of monitoring A seminar for all Council's in­ Hunterston A magnox station. programmes, so that they would volved has been arranged for In their deliberations on the be fully compatible, and their September, where a more detail­ PWR, ACOST conclude that a fu­ quality assured. ed explanation of the Centre's ture programme of 4 or 5 sta­ The objective is not to operate role and a firm Indication of tions should be sufficient to en­ in competition with the National costs to each authority will be courage UK firms to invest in Response Plan, but to comple- spelt out. the necessary facilities to allow them to compete in international markets. Whilst going for the PWR apparently exposes our • sco·rTI sH • manufacturing industry to foreign ... ANTI-NUCLEAR -~ competition, particularly after 199 2, it is noted that 93% of ... " FESTIVAL • "'lllllllr Sizewell's contracts should go to UK companies. WEE FREE KINGS-ARCHBISHOP KEBAB But this expenditure would only DOG FACED HERMANS-ALEXANDER SISTERS be justified if Britain sticks to STAI.J..S..... CRECHE •••• .5PEAKERS the same design and uses the @ AND LOTS MORE @ same suppliers for each new reactor. However, this could be scuppered by the CEGB. They are J'UI.Y 30th, ROSS BANDSTAND considering building only 2 or 3 , PRINCES ST GARDENS, EDINBURGH T plants of the Sizewell design before switching to a French -·- 12 till 5pDJ ... , FREE ~ ~ design • Jn£o/donations c/o 11a Forth St EH1 3LE According to Unipede (Union of Producers and Distributors of Electrical Energy), privatisation will wipe out any claimed cost advantage which nuclear power in the UK currently enjoys, because private companies are expected Residents of Sacramenta, Califor­ the option of probation rather to make a higher rate of return nia, voted on 7 June to place the than complete closure. The plant than public ones. 13 year old Rancho Seco nuclear will have to operate at a 70% The CEGB therefore want to plant on probation. A proposal to load factor for 18 months - it develop a PWR with a single close the plant permanently was has only managed a 38% annual 1,400 MW turbine-generator, narrowly defeated by 50.4% to average load factor to date - which, they claim, would cost no 49.6%. before another vote. more to build than Sizewell but The plant has the worst safety During the referendum cam­ would produce 20% more power and economic record of any US paign the plant's supporters out­ from less fuel, and hence be nuclear station, according to its spent opponents by 5 to 1. Five cheaper to run. Such a change opponents. previous referenda in the US in design could threaten the The Utility knew they were since 1976 have all failed to economic benefits which could be heading for defeat, so they added close nuclear plants by at least a obtained by serial replication of a second question, giving voters 10% margin. the Sizewell design.

6 SCRAM 66, JULY/ AUGUST 1988 NEWS

Nlrex have Indicated for the first Situated in the New Mexico tlme that Caithness Is at the top Nirex Waste desert, once thought by govern­ of their list of possible sites for ment scientists to be one of the dumping low and Intermediate­ driest places on earth, the level nuclear waste. knowledge that both the United repository was due to accept Its George Foulkes MP, who repre­ Kingdom A to mic Energy Author­ first waste In October this year. sents Corrlck, Cumnock and Doon Ity and Lord Thurso, who have But water is leaking In at o rote Volley, wrote to Nlrex asking substantial land holdings of over a gallon a minute, and whether Ayrshire, wherein hls there,would be willing for us to could be saturated within 25 constituency lies, was being cOI"­ study sites owned by them." years. sldered. Nlrex replied that they In response, the Deportment of hod received "on Invitation from e The US Government's $700 Energy will probably simply Caithness District Council Invit­ million underground repository for reduce the amount of waste In­ Ing us to Investigate the poten­ demonstrating the safe disposal tended for the repository, but tial of that area. We are now of plutonium contaminated mil­ would prefer to go ahead os considering our response In the Itary waste has sprung a leak. planned.

Australian Uranium Hinkley · ··

Australia's ruling Labour Party The electricity Industry hove therefore the generating bodies, (ALP) ended their notional con­ been exposed for fiddling their In a desperate bid to offload ference In June having prepared accounts, In a report com­ their nuclear overcapacity in the the way for the abandonment of missioned from their own fi­ small hours of the morning, un­ some of their most sacred pol­ nancial advisers. The docu­ derprice lt. Icies on uranium. ment was so embarrassing that At Hlnkley, the CEGB plan to Their 1983 policies to forbid it was suppressed until worcl of argue o PWR is o "sound econ­ further mines and to ban exports Its existence leaked out - the omic choice." Their own financial to France until Pocl fie weapons Energy Select Committee sub­ advisers show os o fiction. testing is abandoned hove now sequently demanded Its release. Price Woterhouse also argue been eroded. Even then it was only produced that independent electricity pro­ Roxby Downs mine in South after the Electrlclty Council ducers ore being offered o price Australia was allowed a develop­ were threatened with o visit which Is 10% lower than lt ment lease In 1983, because from the Sergeant at Arms. should be because they base their uranium extraction was claimed The report, by Price Water­ payments on the average cost of to be merely lncldenrol to the house, shows that the Electricity cool - £32.50/tonne - when they mining of copper and gold. BP Council hove been underpricing should hove used the marginal own 49% of this mine. Its "flagship" Economy 7 cheap cost - £42/tonne. The marginal More recently Conzlnc Rio night rate for storage heaters, cost is the cost of running the Australia (CRA), on associate by 28%. least efficient, and most expen­ company of the UK multlnotlonol This Is significant for the sive, power stations. These are RTZ, hove been exploring In Hlnkley Inquiry because o dis­ the ones which ore shut down Western Australia. Federal Labour proportionate amount of night when outside suppliers come in. MPs from the State lobbied to supply Is provided by nuclear There Is now no way the CEGB change the Party 'no new mines' power, which the CEGB describe con claim they need more policy to a 'three mines' policy. as "cheap base load electricity." nuclear power because it is This would allow CRA to develop It Is not presently possible In 'economic'. A central pillar of a mine at Rudall River, when Britain to use nuclear power for their case for Hlnkley C has thus Naborlek In the Northern Ter­ "load following" - varying out­ been demolished before the in­ r lt or les closes soon. Notiono 1 put to meet fluctuating demand - quiry has even begun. Conference ordered a review of the uranium mining policy. The ban on exports to France was lifted In August 1986, when the Hawke Government approved a new contract. Conference re­ luctantly legitimised this con­ tract, but ordered that no further soles be made until Pacific weapons testing Is halted. To accommodate Australia's wish that their uranium Is not used for weapons, o portion of the end-product from the French Trlcastln enrichment plant Is designated as being for non­ military purposes only. But it Is now accepted that there Is no way of tracing t he precise des­ tination of Autrollan uranium. Site of the proposed Hlnkley Point C.

JlLY/AUQJST 1988, SCRAM 66 7 Ministry of Truth

Two years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the Government's handling of the affair is the subject of an inves­ tigation by the House of Commons Agriculture Committee. Pre­ dictably, the message presented by the different government departments is that the lessons have been learnt and Chernobyl was not that bad anyway. PATRICK GREEN assesses MAFF's evidence and accuses them of attempting to rewrite history.

The message from the Ministry of Agriculture, contradicted by MAFF's failure to identify heavily Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to the Agriculture contaminated areas like Skipton Moor. MAFF to­ Committee is different from that of other depart­ tally ignore the fact that this hot spot was dis­ ments, and as such is more worrying. Quite simply covered by Farming News and Friends of the Earth, they claim their response was perfectly satisfactory and that both the Notional Radiological Protection and they do not accept mistakes were made. By Board (NRPB) and the Met Office were aware the implication they have no lessons to learn. area received heavy rainfall over the weekend 2 to 5 May, but no-one told MAFF. MAFF's evidence describes a carefully co-ordinated response which fulfilled its primary objective to e MAFF claim their programme was designed "protect the food chain from unacceptable radioac­ to show the worst case contamination levels in tive contamination," and "where necessary, to en­ food. This claim is false. MAFF's press releases sure that alternative food supplies are available." from 1986 quoted contamination levels in terms of national average figures which ignored regional con­ Unfortunately for MAFF their evidence is not sup­ tamination. They hove subsequently claimed the ported by their previously published information. data were there for anyone who wanted them. This Thus, one can only conclude that MAFF ignores the fact that back in 1986 terms like deliberately sought to mislead the Committee in 'becquerel' were less understood than they ore now. their investigations. Consequently the tables of data accompanying the press releases would have been meaningless to In their evidence MAFF make several statements many people. that are either wrong, distortions of events or completely false. The following goes through some In fact in early May, when the NRPB published of their evidence, and offers an alternative inter­ regional data, MAFF were questioned about the pretation. e MAFF maintain they initiated daily testing of milk from the south east of England, as a * . MAFF tested only six samples o~ milk 'tr4m precaution, when they first heard of the accident $01.Jth eal>t Ens;lldrld between ·2f April and l Mat· on 29 April 1986. In fact the monitoring they carried out was of an extremeJy limited nature. Five further $nrnples were tested froft) Between 29 April and 1 May - the day before the (:;Ur-nbdo on. 1. MPf' but . mo~l~odng .· WM not ex.. cloud arrived - only six samples were tested: five t~ h;f other···~· ·UJitil 415 May:. from Surrey and one from Norfolk. Such a small sample size does not amount to precautionary A fl()tional l~ct~nt ~oon'! was not ~~ •P monitoring, as it cannot yield any useful data ~til 4 May .. f)VO: days after. the dOud (anolved~ against which increases can be compared. e MAFF's evidence claims their monitoring was extended nationwide on 3 May, and that a national incident room was radidly set up. And, by the time the cloud arrived on Friday 2 May 1986, MAFF claimed there was close liaison with the •• . MAFF•s: ~ted fond. c

The claimed close liaison with the Met Office is

8 SCRAM 66, JtLY/AUGUST 1988 v a ll d lty of n a ti on a 1 " MAFF deliberately sought supplies, but claimed average figures. They these five cattle had not maintained they were ac­ to mislead the Committee been destined for human ceptable and the NRPB consumption. figures probably repre­ in their investigations." A further 26 cattle were sented extreme examples. tested, of which 4 came Thus, MAFF's cul'l'ent ex- from these areas. Again planation is exactly the opposite of their 1986 posi­ this is insufficient for o detailed follow-up after tion. the initial high readings. One reason why MAFF may hove chosen to publish e MAFF's treatment of the lamb restrictions notional overage figures is that their sample size is equally disturbing. They foil to address the was too small to accurately assess the extent of evidence that contaminated lamb reached the food regional contamination, and the risk to the public. chain because of delays in implementing the For instance, once MAFF had started monitoring restrictions after the first high readings had been nationwide on 4 and 5 May, they monitored 150 found in mid-May. This probably resulted in con­ samples from 33 different areas: an average of 4.5 taminated lamb from Cumbria and North Wales, samples per area. and a number of farms which were contaminated but not identified in 1986, going to market. It Furthermore, MAFF initially concentrated on should be noted that The Observer recently pub­ lodine-131 levels in cows' milk. After May they lished evidence to suggest that sheep in Somerset should have been monitoring milk for caesium, but and Devon were heavily contaminated in 1986. no samples were tested until the autumn. Con­ sequently there ore no data on caesium levels in e MAFF also completely ignore the fact that milk during the period when caesium was found to the restrictions were expected to lost for only be a problem in upland areas. three weeks and are still in force over two years later. Instead of acknowledging that their predict­ The sampling of sheeps' milk was even worse. One ions were incorrect, they attempt to portray the sample from Surrey contaminated with over 2000 introduction of the lamb bans as o carefully con­ Bq/1 should hove led to warnings being issued and trolled exercise. alternative supplies used. Instead no warnings were given and only fourteen other samples from the Their discussion of their computer model implies area were tested os o follow-up. Even though these they have always known upland ecologies are more showed lower contamination levels, the sample size is totally insuffi­ cient to determine the range in contamination levels and to estob­ Ush whether or not the initial Wtjusr Cobbled ~L/kr reading was typical or not. So~e Qld parn;, t trvfh.s Alfi e MAFF claim the levels of bi/:f ~.f lraMPitte ifljO · contamination in vegetation and crops were low atld only reached a small percentage of the Derived \ $ Emergency Reference Level (DERL) although the sample sizes were too small for an accurate assessment. In addition they failed to take action where contamina­ tion was found. For example, in Essex a sample of spinach monitored in early May was found to be contaminated with 701 Bq/Kg of lodine-131 and 306 Bq/Kg of caesium. A sample of parsley, also from Essex, was found to be contaminated with 803 Bq/Kg and 567 Bq/Kg of total caesium.

The fact that these readings are only a fraction of complex. If this is the case one has to question the DERL is irrelevant. It would have cost MAFF why the Minister categorically stated the bans nothing to advise people that as a precaution would only lost for three weeks, and why MAFF vegetables should be washed extremely carefully did not have computer models for upland soils. This prior to consumption (which would have the effect wlll be discussed further in the next issue of of significantly reducing the contamination levels). SCRAM. No such warnings were given. Given MAFF's stated functions this lack of action is unacceptable. MAFF's unwillingness to acknowledge the mistakes of 1986 clearly indicates they have not learned e MAFF also claim they monitored meat and from Chernobyl. It also suggests they have some­ meat products of all types. In mid-May MAFF thing to hide. Unless the Agriculture Committee found exceedingly high lodine-131 levels - up to recognise this, MAFF's attempt to rewrite history several hundred thou1and Bq/Kg - in thyroid glands wlll succeed. of five cattle from Euex, Hereford, Kent, Surrey and North Yorkshire. They warned meat firms to PATRICK GREEN Is Friends of the Earth's radia­ ensure the thyroid glands do not get into meat tion consultant.

Jll..Y I AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 9 Privatisation of the elec­ tricity supply industry is forc­ ing the Conservative Govern­ ment into an unpleasant dilemma: should they continue The their unswerving support for nuclear power; or should they continue their war on public spending? ANDREW HOLMES Irresistible Force addresses this quandary and asks what will happen to Dounreay, Sellafield and the meets the rest of the nuclear industry, particularly the research sec­ tors. lrrmovable Object

Nuclear power has been strongly supported by the competition into the electricity industry, despite Conservative Party, particularly since the miners' the fact that competition has never been a central strike of 1974. Yet this support has always been principle of electricity supply anywhere, at any contradictory, and more so than ever since Mor­ time. goret Thatcher became leader. A party which stands for the reduction of public spending lend Nuclear power and private capital don't mix well their weight to a technology which, more than any these days; nuclear power and competition are other in the civil economy, has squandered financial more or less mutually exclusive. In the months be­ resources and thrown good money after bad. Now, tween the 1987 general election and the unveiling however, the government are having to face up to of the White Paper on ESI privatisation, published that contradiction, because of their plan to in March this year, it was clear that something had privatise the electricity supply industry (ESI). to give. And all the indications are that nuclear power has ended up the loser. Energy Secretary Cecil Parkinson has made clear his wish to see the existing nuclear power stations The Porkinson nuclear scheme is a way of building sold to the private sector and new nuclear stations a ring fence around the output of the CEGB's ex­ built with private money. The plans for keeping isting nuclear stations. How - or if - it will allow nuclear power alive mainly affect England and the construction of new nuclear stations remains to Wales. It will be a long time before Scotland needs be seen. At present, we are about to see the to build a power station of any kind, but in unusual spectacle of a company, the CEGB, apply­ England and Wales the Sizewell pressurised water ing for a new nuclear station, Hinkley Point C, reactor is under construction already, with an in­ which will barely have started construction when quiry about to start for a successor at Hinkley, and the company disappears. The White Paper gives no at least two others (at Wylfa on Anglesey and pos­ hint that this might be something of a problem. sibly Dungeness in Kent) to follow shortly. Here the plans are of immediate relevance. Indeed, the White Paper considers nuclear power purely and simply os a collection of nuclear power The plan is as follows. A new company (nicknamed stations, completely ignoring the rest of the Big G), formed of 70% of the Central Electricity nuclear industry, and most notably the UK Atomic Generating Board's (CEGB) power station stock, will Energy Authority (UKAEA) and British Nuclear inherit all the nuclear plant and the responsibility Fuels plc (BNFL). The only role allocated to these for building more. The 12 two companies is os "com­ Area Boards (distribution peting generators" within the companies) will hove a ••something had to give privatised system, matching statutory duty to take a cer­ their collection of geriatric tain amount of their supplies .•. nuclear power has reactors against imports from from "non-fossil fuel sources". ended up the loser.•• the . South of Scotland Electric­ The quota has not yet been ity Board (SSEB) and Electric- specified but will probably be ite de France. Of the rest of around 20%. The government will have the right to the nuclear fuel cycle; of fast breeder research; of change the quota year by year. reprocessing; of the future of BNFL and the UKAEA; the White Paper has nothing to soy. On the face of it this must look like another soft touch for nuclear power. But it is not that simple. The CEGB, however, having lost their great bottle The scheme proposed commits the government to to remain intact, hove been very far from silent. absolutely nothing. The nuclear quota could be 20% Their chairman Lord Morshall has said that Big G - - or whatever the theoretical maximum production of which he Is to be chairman - will not be able from nuclear power is - but it could also be much to fund fast breeder research. Bearing in mind that less. The "non-fossil fuel" categorisation includes Mr Parkinson, in his first nuclear site visit as not just Big G's nuclear output, but also imported energy minister, promised a bright future for the electricity from Scotland and France; and the Area fast breeder project at Dounreay, this puts him in Boards con make their own choice about how they a slightly embarrassing position. fulfil their quotas. During his Dounreay visit, Mr Porkinson seemed not As well os turning the ESI over to the private sec­ altogether clear about the present position of fast tor, the Conservatives hove pledged to introduce breeder reseurch world-wide. The facts are these:

10 SCRAM 66, JULY/AUGUST 1988 the USA have given it up; Japan have postponed it sive job creation scheme in history. indefinitely; the Soviets are doing something about it, but nobody's very sure what; India are also The option of taking the breeder, and all its re­ doing something, a fact which nobody really likes lated works, under the wing of the state, is not as to think about. In Europe France have built a easy as it may seem. The Treasury, like the City, "commercial" breeder, it has broken down, and understands only one language, and it is a different Electricite de France don't want any more; the one to that spoken in the UKAEA. The prospect of Italians have closed theirs, along with everything funding fast breeder research, indefinitely, to no else to do with nuclear power; the Germans have very obvious purpose even in the long term, will be gone off the idea of plutonium since the Nukem hard to sell to those Treasury mandarins whose sole scandal, as have the Belgians, while the Dutch purpose in life is to avoid the expenditure of went off it years ago. And in our case, we have money. Dounreay. The reality is that privatisation has forced the NO HELP FROM THE CITY issue of nuclear power, and particularly nuclear re­ search, in a much more dramatic way than could The one thing which might be noticed is that have been imagined five or ten years ago. Hard privately-owned nuclear electricity industries are decisions need to be made, and will be made, be­ conspicuous by their absence. Most privately-owned cause ESI privatisation is among the biggest utilities, anywhere in the world, would turn pale at projects of the Third Thatcher Term. Nuclear the idea of trying to build even a conventional power has finally met a force bigger than itself. reactor. The fast breeder has as much relevance to That it should come from the Right rather then their lives as H G Wells' time machine. Uranium, the Left is not really surprising; money has always for those who want it, can be had cheaply and been one of nuclear power's big problems, and easily. The need for a power station fuelled by nothing, these days, is more important than money. plutonium is so far away as to be invisible to most in the electriCity industry - even if fast breeders THE PARTY'S OVER worked well, which they don't, and were economic, which they aren't and are never Hkely to be. The crunch will come first at Dounreay. The deci­ sion on the plant's future has been postponed until None of this mattered much as long as the fast a more general review of research spending Is breeder was safely wrapped in the cocoon of the carried out in the autumn. It will not, however, be public sector. But the people who will own the in­ postponed for much longer thereafter, and the dustry after privatisation will be harder to con­ likelihood is that the government will be looking vince. One thing which can be said about the for a way to wind down the Dounreay plant in an money men of the City of London is that they are orderly fashion. Following this, there will need to not sentimental about nuclear power. They will not be a decision on the general management of the put their money - and this is real money, not nuclear 'cycle'; who will take responsibility for public money - into a venture like the fast waste disposal, decommissioning and so on. The breeder, which has no prospect of a return. deadline for these decisions is set by the government's own timetable for privatisation. Un­ So the choice now facing the government is simple; less there is a major change of policy, the abandon the fast breeder or pick up the tab; all of government will need to have the loose ends tied it, and forever. up in time for writing the investment prospectus for Big G, sometime in 1991, at the latest. If the fast breeder goes, much else goes with it. For example, what conceivable purpose is there in The nuclear establishment will fight as hard as reprocessing nuclear waste if there is no prospect ever to retain their influence and spending power, of using plutonium for electricity production? Why but so far they have met with little success, and should the UKAEA continue to exist if there is no nothing suggests that they will do so in the next fast breeder research to be done? What is to be­ few years. The conclusion is inescapable: suddenly, come of the Dounreay community when and if the for the British nuclear establishment, the party is breeder is abandoned? over.

On the other hand, should the government simply decide to pick up the tab, it will have to find ANDREW HOLMES is editor of 'Power ln Europe' - some sort of political justification for doing so, a fortnightly digest covering the European beyond keeping Dounreay active as the most expen- Electricity Industry.

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 11 Snug as a Bug Bacteria and other micro-organisms hove been discovered in the degraded core of Three Mile Island. Although the engineers working on the dismantling of the burned-out reactor appear to see no more significance in this discovery than a reduced visibility for the workers, the consequences could be catastrophic. DON ARNOTT reports. The Pressurised Water Reqctor (PWR) core at Three Mile Island number two burned out in March 1979"' The results==;f that accident, although of the highest possible relevance to Sizewell B, were not available in time to influence the Inquiry. The sheer hazard of the decommissioning and clean-up have got themselves installed into such a habitat as operation necessitated delay (which was further in­ the result of abominably careless and indescribably creased because nobody could find the money.) filthy work. There may be undesirable consequences.

But, in 1987, dismantling began, and is expected to For the water in which they so happily multiplied - be complete by 1.2,!e this year or early next •. Full the average bacterium divides once every 20 min­ data are not yet available; but the indications are utes - was warmed by decay heat. Accompanying that interesting questions will arise at the Hlnkley this must have been a relatively enormous radiation Point C Inquiry this autumn. dosage arising from fission product decay. The mutation rates must have shot up beyond anything But, in this preliminary note, I am concerned with experienced in nature something quite different to the accident itself. This is the fact that, quite egr!y on in the disman­ POTENTIALLY VIRULENT STRAINS EVOLVE tling procedure, the rwugl coolgnt in the b.w:nad­ out_sg[.e. be.carne jnfested wjth micro-organisms. It will happen as a rare event that such a mutation will give rise to an especially virile, and sometimes Some of what was found emerged in two publi­ virulent strain which proceeds to multiply and cations: Science (4.12.8Z} and Nuclear Engineering crowd out the rest. The chance is of the order of International (Qecemher 1987) The language used is 1:100,000. This is why genetic mutation is almost the slap-happy sort reserved by physical scientists unidentifiable amongst humans: there are only 5000 for biological problems, so none of the details is to million of us. But in a micro-organism soup there be trusted. But it is clear, from the Science ar­ con be that many individuals in a single cubic cen­ ticle, that the boys had a really tough nut. timetre. Under such circumstances rare events be­ come calculable certainties. We are told: " ••• after a few hours work, the water became so cloudy that the men had to operate by Which brings me to hydrogen peroxide •. This is a feel. The low visibility was caused by fine sediment rn..lliL_antiseptic, principally used as a mouthwash and by the hardy organisms that thrived in the and ~ very reactive chemicall~ and reactor vessel. 'The reactor was just like a stag­ easily destroyed by hegt •• It is quite .lmpossi le to nant pond in summertime,' says Gordon Tombs, imagine that it can have been e£fectll£.e against a GPU Nuclear's earnest public relations man. The wide rgnge of micro-organisms:...edded to which decaying fuel assemblies keep the water heated to many of them have the trick of forming highly a tepid 80°F and the underwater camera.. lights al­ resistant and long-lived spores the moment cir­ low for photosynthesis, making the core a suitable cumstances seem against them. habitat for many species of algae, fungi, yeast and bacteria. Particularly impressive are the bacteria It seems clear that ve.qc,Jittle of the core debris is that feed on the carbon-rich hydraulic fluid that being subject to examination. It is being 6uridlea leaks from the tools during defuellng. The bug into drums and shipped off to the DoE's National problem was solved by dumping hydrogen peroxide Engineering Laboratory at Idaho. One hopes that it into the soup." was thoroughly dried out first; but even if not, such hydrogen peroxide as may have got into the HOW ON EARTH DID THEY GET IN THERE? drums will have vanished long before arrival.

I'll turn aside merely to get rid of one pit:ce of nonsense. Fuhgi, yeasts and bacteria do not en~age In photosynt esis; 2!!h:_ the algae will have en­ efited from the camera lights. The hydrogen per­ oxide can wait, for the moment.

How on earth did they get in? Are we witnessing the birth of yet another nuclear acronym, DECCE (Degraded Core Coolant Eutrophication}? I think not: one can believe most things of bacteria but not that they were happily installed in the intact core, and ready to take over following the disaster. DON ARNOTT is a former consultant for the In-;_ No, such a plethora of micro-organisms can only ternational Atom&c Energy Agency •

12 SCRAM 66, JULY/AUGUST 1988 STIRLING DISTRICT COUNCIL is proud to have sponsored the 4th NATIONAL STANDING CONFERENCE ON LOW-LEVEL RADIATION AND HEALTH ALBERT HALLS. STIRLING 25-26 JUNE 1988

Organised by Scottish Radiation Monitoring Groups. Major Sponsor Stirling District Council

JtLY I AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 13 Milk of Human Kindness?

Food contaminated above EEC limits has been deliberately exported to developing countries, many of which ore in the grip of famine. EEC nuclear and trade departments hove tried to pressure them to withdraw their objections, or risk losing vital trade and aid. FELICITY ARBUTHNOTT and TONY WEBB record some of the evidence and accuse the nuclear authorities of double standards: if they believe the recipient countries ore not competent to measure levels of radioactivity in food, how con they expect them to run the nuclear power programmes which the nuclear powers wont to sell them?

A 6,000 tonne shipment of beef is currently an­ would not affect a major trade deal that had just chored off Rotterdam, awaiting orders. The ship been negotiated. was directed to sail from Venezuela after thousands of people took to the streets of Maracay demand­ Powdered milk from Cork's Golden Vale Co-op, ing that the meat be returned to its countries of worth an estimated IR£ 100,000, was also rejected origin - Eire, Northern Ireland and Denmark - be­ by the Phillipines. Bord Balnne claimed this was cause of its level of radioactive contamination. The because the Philippines wouldn't accept EEC radia­ Venezuelan health authorities declared the meat un­ tion level guidelines, and implied that the rejection fit for human consumption, and confirmed that the was Instigated by Australia and New Zealand diary radiation levels were unacceptable. The Irish and producers. Later, thei·r Chief Executive revealed UK Governments, however, claim the radiation that batches of powdered milk had been mixed with was "within acceptable EEC limits." uncontaminated milk powder to reduce the levels.

This is not an isolated case. Our research has The Phillipines also received contaminated milk revealed that some 17 developing countries (see from the Netherlands. Teh Chin Chai, a journalist map) have had Chernobyl-contaminated consign­ with the Consumers' Association of Penang claims ments of food dumped on them over the past two In a recently published book that in July 1986 loads years - food that should have been condemned and of dairy produce arrived in the Phillipines covered destroyed. In many cases the radiation levels were by safety certificates from the Netherlands. Tests unacceptable; in some cases the food was part of revealed they contained unacceptable levels of international 'aid' programmes; in a few cases the radioactive caesium. consignments were carefully and deliberately mixed with uncontaminated food to dilute the contamina­ In September 1986 the Malaysian Government found tion level to just below the EEC limits. high levels in six other brands of milk powder, four from the Netherlands and one each from the UK CONTAMINATION WAY ABOVE INFANTS' LIMIT and Eire. The Malaysian caesium limit is 180 Bqlkg. This caused real fear. One mother wrote to the In February 1988, Eire admitted that a 37,000 Consumers' Association: "please help me find which tonne consignment of dairy produce was rejected brand (of . milk) is safe, our stock is running low by Mexican authorities and had been returned. Bord and I don't know which brand to choose." Bainne (The Irish Dairy Board) admitted on an RTE programme that the level of cGntamination was EGYPTIAN PAST A FACTORY CLOSED DOWN 3,750 Bq/Kg. The EEC limit is 1,250 Bqlkg for all radionuclides over 1 0 day half life, and 370 Egypt is known to have rejected five consignments Bq/kg for caesium in milk intended for infants. before introducing stringent import regulations. They had initially stated that the radiation levels However, according to Mrs M Mizbah, at the were within EEC limits. Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce in London, a consignment of flour from Italy, manufactured They emphasised that taking back the consignment from Greek wheat, was accepted by a pasta fac­ was a "goodwill gesture" in view of the Importance tory on the Red Sea. Subsequently, it was found to of the trading links with Mexico, and that this be so highly contaminated that the factory was closed down. Decontamination methods are still being sought.

·.. -- .. · '_..·_·.·-:. ,: ·... -:.. : .. ·· ... ;·- .. : ...... ··:· In Bavaria, workers refused to handle 260 goods wagons containing 5,000 tonnes of whey powder ~o~.~k ~~ '!~~ ~t~~~(lt~· b.f< ~r~~it with re::~dings as high as 8,000 Bqlkg. After spend­ r~~ .. ~ .. ~~.,.~~···~~~r. · ·· ing some time in a siding the owners, Meggle. Dairies, were compensated several million ··L•r:f.:j#k~·.·fo~~ii#!··~~·•·#~).~~/~t~·········· Deutschmarks and ordered to 'destroy'. the powder. However, it found its way to a trading company, Lopex, based in Frankfurt. Lopex allegedly at­ tempted to export it to Egypt as cattle food and llfl£~#!£~~~... ~;; to famine-stricken Angola for human consumption. The powder was subsequently moved to the security • r ~~~~~1~,~~ ~~~~ ~~~ .~~~.· iai ;~~ n of two army camps for safe keeping. t~ U!~J~l~t.t® ~@~~•~t9f:l~ · r.\ t•· In October 1987, 750 tons of EEC dairy produce, donated as food aid to Ghana, were found to have radiation levels as high as 5,459 Bq/kg. The finance minister, Mr K Botchey, who has responsibility for

14 ScRAM 66, JUlYI AUGUST 1988 Countries which received produce deemed unfit for human consumption:

Angola Brazil Egypt t) Ethiopia Gambia Ghana oi .· India "[!};; \.) r;J' .... Jamaica 9.-·~ndia Thailand ; Malaysia ~J~ ••!:1...... ca.hia~.&"'·•er Ethiopia•.•- · ·~... ~· }~•Phillipines Mexico tana ...... ,& • ··~ Mozambique . ~Ua Sri L~nka ·i{.,.,'-..1\;f'.~alays~ Phillipines Angola ill,• ( Singapore Cj..,..,~ ...... \... ii.;J (i . . • ' Singapore \__/ Ho~amblque .. "' Somalia Sri Lanka Q) Thailand Venezuela

the shipment immediately contacted the media and gola, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Somalia, has been warned the public. This action led to a serious dis­ contaminated; Sri Lanka and Thailand were repor­ pute with the EEC ambassador to Accro, who in­ tedly pressured to relax their permitted levels; Sin­ sisted that the shipment was within EEC limits gapore rejected 240 consignments by October 1986. before it left Hamburg. It is a matter of record that a number of countries EEC PRESSURE ON GHANA, BRAZIL have been very concerned over the level of radia­ tion found in produce shipped from Europe since Despite assurances that all interested parties could Chernobyl, and the initial claims of unacceptable be present, Ghana were excluded from the test levels in these countries have frequently been fol­ conducted by the International Atomic Energy lowed by visits from officials of the originating Agency in Vienn9 where the consignment was country. In some cases these visits resulted in a cleared os safe for consumption. As one official subsequent statement casting doubt on the original put it: "there is some cause to wonder whether of­ measurements. ficial reports of EEC countries ore always ac­ curate. Disposal of unacceptable things in Africa DOSE SPREAD OVER A LARGER POPULATION has been going on since time immemorial. There is a lot of pressure from the EEC on us over this There is also a suspicion that in some cases ship­ and there is a Ghanaian saying - we have our hand ments of food contaminated at unacceptable levels in their mouth - what can we do?" have been diluted with other produce to bring them below the permitted levels. If this is the case then In August 1986, the Brazilian authorities claimed most of the contaminated food could eventually be 3, 150 tonnes of butter and milk powder contained disposed of in this way. Such a practice is to be 1,000 times the Brazilian limit. The bulk of this deplored as presenting an unnecessary risk to the produce was allegedly from Eire although Denmark, people who consume it. There is no 'safe' level - West Germany and the Netherlands were also im­ diluting the foodstuff merely results in a greater plicated. A Board Bainne spokesperson denied levels volume of material containing the same radioac­ exceeded EEC standards. Eire's Ministry of Agricul­ tivity, so the dose represented by that contamina­ ture said a certificate was issued for export based tion is spread over a larger population. on analysis of milk and milk powder from the area where the produce originated. However, it has been The argument promulgated by the EEC nuclear suggested that they were unable to identify the powers that these countries are incompetent at the specific area. simple task of measuring radiation levels in food correctly simply doesn't wash. If it is the case Brazil came in for some arm twisting. A senior ex­ then it makes nonsense of IAEA assertions that ecutive of the Nuclear Energy Board visited their these countries ore fit to administer qnd control Ministry of Agriculture. Irish press reports suggest nuclear energy programmes, food irradiation plants that the Brazilian authorities were reminded of and similar technologies. They can't have it both the Importance of EEC trade. On the official's ways - either they ore competent for all nuclear return it was stated that a second test by Brazilian applications, or they ore not competent for any of Government chemists found the consignment 1 o be them. within acceptable limits. Despite this retraction, the Head of the Brazilian Agricultural Society, who This latest outrageous example of 'dilute and mode the original claim, maintained the levels were disperse' policy for radioactive waste disposal must too high. He was accused by a committee of be exposed. senior Brazilian Government scientists of having vested Interests. The consignment was accepted In September 1986. FEUCITY ARBUTHNOT is a freelance journalist and TONY WEBB works with the London Food Media reports suggest that EEC famine aid to An- Commission.

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 15 Norwegians Would - UK Wouldn't !

As reported in previous issues of SCRAM the Norwegians have replaced the UK as world leaders in wave power technology. DAVID ROSS up-dates the progress of Norway's over­ seas trade. He also reveals, with reference to evidence presented to a House of Lords Committee, some of the scheming which went on to discredit the UK research and development work in the late '70s. With the Hinkley Point inquiry due to begin this autumn, it is possible that the 'dirty tricks' manual may be taken down from the shelf and dusted off again.

The UK Government, worried that they have placed This is big business; which the UK could now be themselves In an increasingly untenable position doing. over wave energy, have launched a snooping expedi­ tion to discover what the Norwegians are doing. UK WAVE AXE REVERSED - RELUCTANTLY I can reveal that they have despatched Or C P But our programme was shut down in 1982 by Nigel Burdess, the Commercial Attache at the British Lawson when he was Energy Secretary. His dislike Embassy in Oslo, to gather information about the of spending money, plus the pressure of the nuclear teams of engineers and scientists and business men lobby (which had always recognised that wave who replaced UK as the leaders in wave power energy was its most dangerous challenger) In UK technology when the Government decided that conditions, proved fatal. But when Norway carried wave power was not "commercial." on developing wave energy, the UK Government were forced reluctantly. to concede a Uttle, and NORWAY CORNERS WORLD WAVE MARKET they have allocated £300,000 to the construction of a wave power unit on the Island of Islay in the In­ Now, two commercial companies in Norway are ner Hebrides. demonstrating how wrong this is. One of them, Kvaerner, is among the world's best known com­ Approval has so far been given only for a test bed, panies - they have recently taken over the to measure the wave climate on site, and the shipyard at Govon on the Clyde. They are now In Department of Energy will have to decide whether the concluding stages of selling Oscillating Water to authorise a further allocation of money for a Column power stations to Tonga, Western Samoa turbine and generator so that the unit can produce and Vanuotu (formerly new Hebrides). They claim electricity. the cost of a unit of wave electricity is now be­ tween 6 and 15 US cents, which at current ex­ A decision is likely later this summer. From the change rates is 3p-8p. point of view of Queen's University, Belfast, who are in charge of the Islay experiment, and for The range in price reveals the reality: much those who still hope for a Government-supported depends on the cost of local labour and materials wave power programme, this matters. in different countries, the discount rate and the interest paid on loons and so the nominal cost is not o good indication; as with hydro­ electrclty in Scotland, which is now the cheapest power in the UK, at around lp a unit, the cost seemed forbidding when construction was contemplated. But with the 'fuel' coming free, it does not take long for the Investment to pay for itself, over and over again.

The second Norwegian com­ pany is Norwave which made history by concluding the world's first commercial con­ tract for a wave power sta­ tion with Ball in the spring (SCRAM 65). Their director, Or Even Mehlum, has just returned from there and he reports that the prospects are "very good" for a deal to construct several hundred wave power station In the In­ donesian islands within the next 10-12 years. Sketch of a Kvaerner MUlti-resonant Osclllatlng Water Cblumn wave power plant near ToftestaJien ln Nbrway.

16 SCRAM 66, Jll.Y/AUGUST 1988 But whatever the Government decide, the future of wove power os o successful alternative ls now es­ tablished, In other parts of the world, and nothing con prevent Its development.

The Government ore plainly hoping that, at the Hlnkley Point C In­ quiry, they wUl be able to glve ges­ tures of support for tidal and wind power and hope that there will be enough objections from some en­ vironmentalists to enable them to say that these alternatives are not acceptable.

DIRTY TRICKS - PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE

But lCII'ge-sc:ale offlhon wove power was described os having "no major deleterious environmental effects" In the Energy Deportment's review parr on wove energy (Energy Paper <42 published In 1979; and the en­ vironmental Impact of small-scale shoreline devices seems to be restclcted to "particularly visual Intrusiveness and noise" according to the Deportment's renewable energy strategy (Energy Paper 55) published ln June \ 988. That Is one reason why the Government have tried so hard to decry 1t.

Accusations that the nuclear lobby shut do wn t he w a ve p o w er programme at just the time when u, problems were being solved, hove been mode by Professor Stephen Salter, one ·. of the UK 's leading researchers In the field working at Edinburgh University.

He recently told the. House of Lords Committee on the European Com­ munities that · at such a point "it would hove been apparent to anyone who wished to delay the progress of renewable energy that o change of direction was necessary. Many of the chief sclentbts at the Deport­ ment of Energy hove come from Power fcan the sea: ..eves delve up the tapered channel of #lb~W~ve's and later returned to Harwell" Tapcha.n power station on an Island near Bergen -..eves reach flve (which Is the heodquorten slte, on tbnes their natural ~eight . (Inset s~ the effect of a poor sea, UK Atomic Energy Authority still faster In the channel than the water outside.) property, of the Energy Technology Support Unlt - ETSU - who ore In charge of the renewobles programme). token, even In the present pioneering stage when costs are naturally higher than they will be in "There ls clear documentary evidence that this serial production. nuclear control has adversely affected reporting on renewable energy and that attempts to expose the The author of that conclusion was Peter Davies. the distortions hove been blocked by officials ••• Having wound up hls own deportment's effort, he ETSU officials hove told me privately that they are went on to another job: In charge of the presenta­ being forced to make facts suit policy. I hove tion of the UKAEA case at the Dounreay Inquiry. been told by one of the anessment consultants that the conclualons of hb report were reversed." It Is little wonder that the Government are worried about how to defend themselves at the Hlnkley In­ The Government's final report on wove power sold quiry this autumn. that there was "only o low probablllt 1 of any design achieving an energy cost below Bp ln May DAVIO ROSS b a freelance writer on energy mat­ 1982 prices." This figure has already been over ters, and authot: of 'Energy from the Waves'.

JtLy I AUQJST 1988, SCRAM 66 17 Before the Flood 4.5°C. This will cause the seas to expand and could Every year the CEGB pumps about 200 also melt significant volumes of the polar ice cops, causing a further increase in world sea levels; be­ million tonnes of COz into the atmos­ tween 20cm and 140cm. This could have phere, approximately 1 % of the world catastrophic consequences as roughly half the total. This is a significant contributor world's population lives close to the sea. The US to the increasingly credible greenhouse alone will have to spend over $100 billion to theory. In this article MIKE TOWNSLEY protect its eastern seaboard. explores the theory and describes what Even if present trends don't continue the environ­ might happen if the world continues to ment is already committed to significant change. rely upon fossil fuel combustion as a Increases in greenhouse gases over the past 100 major power source. years will cause a 0.5°C rise in global mean tem­ peraTure, and cause sea levels to rise by between lOcm and 12cm as the environment catches up. Global climatic changes resulting from the green­ house effect will be "considerably larger than has CEGB TAKES NOTICE - AT LAST been known in human history," according to Or Jill Joeger of the Bei jer Institute, in a report published The international scientific consensus has created in June. such conc.ern that many notions have now initiated research programmes to look into the possible ef­ The report highlights the threat to water supplies fects of global warming. Even the Central as a possible effect of Increased evaporation due to Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) - founder global worming. Rainfall patterns could be drasti­ members of the flat earth society · - are beginning cally altered, turning established farming belts into to sit up and take notice. deserts and causing existing arid regions to bloom.

The greenhouse effect, is a natural process: gases in the earth's atmosphere allows short wove length radiation from the sun to pass through but absorb the long wave infrared radiation reflected back. The main 'greenhouse gases' are carbon dioxide (COz), methane, nitrogen oxides, tropospheric ozone (in the lowest layer of the atmosphere), and chloroflourocarbons (CFCs). Atmospheric concentra­ tions of these gases are increasing which will cause the earth to heat up - 'global warming'.

THEORY GAINING CREDIBILITY Environmental fifth columnist, Peter Chester, head When the greenhouse theory was first proposed of the CEGB's environmental programme - it was most governments rejected it out of hand; but was he who convinced the Board to take some world opinion is now changing fast. The consensus responsibility for the acid rain damage in Scan­ of international scientific opinion accepts that the dinavian countries - now has a new project to repercussions of the greenhouse effect will touch worry about; they are sponsoring four research fel­ all our lives in the next century. lowships, costing about £1.25 million over the next five years. They aim to improve predictions of fu• The precise effect on world climatic patterns is a ture climatic change. The scientific community, source of Intense fnternotional debate: "The only however, are rather more coy and prefer 'scenario' thing we are sure of - there is almost total to 'prediction'. They are "formulating what could agreement - Is that some increase in world sea happen, not what will happen," argues Or Jones. levels will occur," observes Or Phil Jones of the Climatic Research Unit at The University of East The research fellowships ore to study: Anglia. Jones points out that the rise In sea level will effect some parts of the world more than e The absorption of carbon dioxide (COz) from the others: "In Britain, the south east of England will atmosphere by the oceans; be the most effected, because the land is already e The way heat is transferred from the warm sur­ falling into the sea. Scotland however wlll be less face of the ocean down into deeper waters; effected because it is rising slightly." e Heat and water vapour transfer from the land to the atmosphere; According to scientists at the Institute of Ter­ e Cloud characteristics and their effects on the restrial Ecology, Britain will need to spend £5-8 climate. blllion on Improving sea defences. Options include: raising existing sea walls, building new walls fur­ However, very little work is being done to find ther inland, building storm surge and estuary b(lr­ methods to combat the greenhouse effect. Although riers, even abandoning whole sections of coast. It ls possible to remove CO z from the effluent gases of fossil fuelled power stations, the cost If present trends continue the combined increase of would be enormous. According to one speaker at a greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will be equiv­ symposium to discuss the greenhouse effect, staged alent to doubling the pre-industrial levels of atmos­ in April by the Watt Committee on Energy and the pheric COz, possibly by 2030. Applying current pre­ Institute of Energy, it could udd between 70% and diction methods it is thought this will increase 150% to the capital costs of cool burning plant, global mean temperature by between 1.5°C and with a knock on effect for electricity prices of

18 SCRAM 66, JUlY I AUGUST 1988 56% to 100%. ADVERTISEJENT Even If financial barriers could be surmounted, we would still have a major secondary pollution problem - what to do with the vast quantity of carbon wastes from the fllter plant. It has been es­ timated that CO z filter plant fitted to every fos­ sil fuelled power station would eat up more than 15% of the industry's output.

ACID RAIN UNK SERA is the green wing of the labour movement and the socialist wing of the green movement. SERA Methane is the dark horse of the greenhouse gases, and little is said about possible clean-up technol­ works to bring about changes in the management of ogy. It traps infrared radiation more efficiently the environment and to integrate environmental than COz, and its atmospheric concentration is perspectives into all aspects of policy and decision­ rising 6 times faster. making to enhance the way we live and work.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are also leading players in the greenhouse gas troupe. They are perhaps better known. for their role in the acid rain tragedy. This brings us to tropospheric ozone which occurs The issues: naturally, but not in the troposphere. It is thought that ozone is produced via a complex chemical chain involving NOx and hydrocarbons and sunlight. SERA has thousands of members and supporters Whilst it is true that the major source of NOx is throughout the country. The work of SERA is motor vehicles, fossil fuelled power stations also organised through a network of local groups produce a significant amount. It is indeed ironic campaigning on local issues while policy development that the ozone hole above Antarctica is expanding, whilst we are creating the gas lower down in the and campaigning at a national level is undertaken by troposphere as fast as it is disapearing above from working groups. Issues covered recently include: the stratosphere. • Energy policies Although the greenhouse effect is now being taken • Economic policies seriously, most government research programmes • Pollution and waste are being conducted into predicting the possible ef­ • Public health fects. This should result in everyone knowing ex­ • Rural issues actly how the climate will change - who will be • World eco-development flooded and whether or not the US grain belt will • Trades Unions and the environment emigrate to Canada - but nobody will know what • Machinery of government to do about it. • Planning and transport The electricity industry is not solely responsible for the greenhouse effect, but it does make a sig­ There is a SERA Parliamentary group of MPs. There nificant contribution to the problem. Both COz and are also several SERA MEPs in the European methane are emitted from fossil-fuelled power sta­ Parliament. tions, which account for 90% and 30% of their presence in the atmosphere respectively. The CEGB alone are responsible for 1% of the CO z dis­ charged worldwide. JOIII SERA

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE Membership form Steps to prevent further global warming must be taken now. Resources should be redirected from Membership of SERA includes a free subscription to NEW conventional, globally polluting energy sources GROUND, the quarterly journal of green socialism. towards increased energy efficiency and benign renewable energy sources. The extent to which fos­ Membership rates per annum sil fuels are burnt in the future depends upon many Individuals Organisations variables: economic growth; population growth; 0 Ordinary £I 0 [.] local £I 5 trends in energy markets and planning. 0 Unwaged £5 0 National £50 (tick as appropriate) Developing countries have a significant role to play in reducing the future impact of the greenhouse Name ...... effect: they can either travel the path of a fossil Address ...... and fissile energy regime being levelled at tnem by Western Governments or take the soft energy op­ Postcode ...... tion. Many of them have yet to install large Tel ...... electricity grids and would be better served, econ­ momically and environmentally, by stand alone sys­ tems based on renewables. I Enclose £...... Membership & £...... donation TOTAL£ ......

The argument that the greenhouse effect is just Please make cheques payable to SERA and send to: another reason for expanding the nuclear industry SERA. 26 Underwood Street. London, NI 7JQ doesn't even bear thinking about.

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 19 The Regeneration of water power

The UK is •blessed• with relatively high rainfall; the spin-off is a great potential for hydro-electric power. GEORGE CHAPMAN gives a background briefing on water power, what eq.~ipment is avail­ able and how you can install your own system. In the next issue he wUl address the institutional and regulatory problems facing small-scale hydro power producers.

Since before Domesday, when there were around In o class of their own ore the gravity operated 5,000 water mills, sites with heads (heights of overshot and breastshot wheels. The work Is done water fall) of no more then Sm were generally by water descending In buckets. Well designed used. There may be now os many os 20,000 water waterwheels con achieve quite high efflclencles, power sites In the UK once used for water wheels certainly comparable with many turbines, and their and, although relatively few ore still In use, aban­ efficiency increases as the flow reduces. doned sites ore being Increasingly resuscitated. All these used open woterwheels. Undershot wheels are really turbines and a.re mixed Impulse-pressure machines. Some very large wheels The Introduction of enclosed turbines In the mld- hove been bull t - 16m diameter at Laxey on the 1800s has Increased water power potential since Isle of Man, and there are many 1 Om diameter much higher heads can be used, and more recently wheels - but In most cases a modern turbine for there have been attempts to more effectively and the same head and flow would come cheaper. economically use heads down to 1m. The diagram relates flow (volume per unit time) Turbines range from the pure Impulse type where a and head (height of water fall) to the diagonal jet of water from a nozzle drives 'buckets' rapidly lines showing power available. The approximate round. The Pelton turbine Is the main example. areas of appllcoblllty of various types of machine Having given up Its energy, the water then falls ore Indicated. Actual power output wlll be less due gently clear by gravity. This ls the most efficient to Inefficiencies ln turbines and generators. of turbines, over the full range of machine size and over o wide range of flow. CONSIDERABLE SCOPE FOR UK WATER POWER

At the other end of the scale Is the Kaplon or lt Is helpful at this stage to visualise the mag­ propeUor turbine where a stream of water flowing nitude of flow. A typical leat (the channel bringing ln a close-fitting pipe drives blades round. The th~ water to the wheel) of 1.25m wide by 0.7Sm pressure due to the head Is absorbed by the blades. deep with water movjng at a strolllng pace of This Is the purest pressure turbine. It Is essentlal 0.45m/s carries 0.6m /s. If this falls through the that this type of turbine has a flared draft tube diameter of a typical mill wheel of 3.7m a total downstream, discharging underwater into the tall power Qf around 15kW will be available. This will race, to slow down the water, and to restore the drive two or three stones and the odd hoist; or lf pressure from sub-atmospheric to near-atmospheric. used to generate electricity with on overall ef­ ficiency below 50%, around S or 6kW wlll be avail­ In between Is a number of designs which combine able. The some volume of water running down a Impulse and pressure effects. Generally their peak pipe with o fall of 61m has a potential of 254kW, efficiency ls at near full flow and power and falls and on expected 180kW electrical output from ap­ off markedly below that. In most cases smaller propriate plant. machines ore less efficient than larger ones, and this Is portlcularly so with propellor turbines where There Is considerable scope In the UK for the con­ I suspect Insufficient care ls given to the draft struction of hydro-electric stations of between 100· tube design. and 1000kW output, provided the leat, pipeline and·

20 SCRAM 66, :U...Y I AUGUST 1988 powerhouses do not upset environmentalists or anglers. And the technology Is well established~

In recent years there has been more Interest shown In low head devices, since there ore many weirs on the gently flowing rivers of England in particular with a small drop but a large flow. One aim is to pse modern materials and novel designs to simplify construction and keep costs down.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

Solford University are experimenting with two Layout of a micro hydroelectric ideas. In one, a flap sealed at the edges is pushed system using a Pelton wheel. to and fro in on open box as water is admitted and exhausted, giving a reciprocating output. In another, water raises a float which falls when water drains which could clog the jets or blades, whereas over­ away. shot wheels present little trouble as they pass al­ most anything. Against that, slowly rotating Lanchester (Coventry) Polytechnic, in association waterwheels require considerable gearing or belts to with Hydro Energy Associates, are experimenting increase the speed to the 150rpm used by gener­ with a machine in which successive 'slugs' of water ators. This Involves initial and running costs, and a pass through an arrangement of flexible bags, small energy loss. pumping air in a closed circuit past a Wells air turbine. It turns at a high enough speed to be DEMONSTRATION PROJECT directly coupled to a generator. The first 150kW machine, using a head of 2.8m, will begin full-scale Although each site is generally unique one manufac­ trials this summer. turer, Osman Goring of Water Power Engineering in Gloucestershire, is building a range of machines in This is not to say that older designs do not work kit form. A prefabricated glass-reinforced plastic at low heads. I know of at least one vertical shaft penstock (sluice), incorporating a debris screen, and Francis turbine working on a head of 1m producing a similarly built powerhouse with a Schiele turbine, JkW, which is enough for an average household's can be erected at most sites provided with lighting and water heating, with some spare for simple concrete pads at each end of a connecting space heating. It remains to be seen whether the feed pipe. Goring hopes to install 8 to 10 of these new designs can compete on cost at the higher by a weir on the Thames, each producing 20kW for power ratIngs. the grid. Funding will come partly from the EEC as a 'demonstration project', and partly from The primary aim of the system designer is to keep Thames Water Authority. down initial costs, but subsequent maintenance costs and inconveniences must also be borne in mind. The electrical side presents the least problems. Also, sizing the plant to make best use of available There are plenty of generators available which can water flow is important. On rivers like the Test in be run either for single phase stand-alone use, or Hampshire the flow rote Is virtually constant, above 15kW for 3 phase, with appropriate whereas In areas of hard rock hillsides flows ean synchronising and safety equipment, in parallel with vary dramatically. the mains to supply the grid.

Another eonslderatio.n Is debris. Turbines require ef­ Small stand-alone plant can be cheaply controlled fective debris screening to remove leaves and so on by electronic load controllers which dump 'spare' power into a useful task such as water heating. These devices can be simple (but produce radio in­ terference on nearby long and medium wave) or more complicated but requiring resistive load to dissipate the dumped energy. Change-over-switches can be used to control power supply to the grid.

How much will it all cost? Costs will vary con­ siderably, depending on site and what civil works are already present. If you are fortunate it could cost as little as £ 1000/installed kW, but it Is more likely to cost several times that. A useful test is: if I invested £x in the City, would the income pay my electricity bill for ykWh/year FOR EVER?

There are also institutional and regulatory problems to overcome. I will tackle these in an article in the next issue of SCRAM. For more information on water power, its uses and how to set up your own system contact the address below.

Cdr GEORGE CHAPMAN is the Honorary Secretary of The National Association of Water Power Users, The Rock, South Brent, South Devon TQ10 9JL. (Tel 036 47 2185).

Jll..Y I AUQJST 1988, SCRAM 66 21 I APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

It is believed the main reason The draft directive is expected for the UK's change of heart was to be signed under the Greek a threatened court action. If they presidency, early next year. did not double their reduction of European Community environment SOz. The legal action would have e Results of a research prog­ ministers have finally agreed on been brought against the Gov­ ramme conducted at Southampton a draft directive to govern emis­ ernment, by EEC Environment University show a very strong sions of gases involved in the Commissioner, Stanley Clinton­ correlation between aluminium in acid rain cocktail. Davies, under a little known dir- drinking water and increased in­ cidence of Alz.heimers disease - a common form of senile dementia. Early manifestations of the disease are reduced short term memory, bad time orientation and speech defects, according to a Norwegian report published last year. Death usually follows within ten years. According to the report more people· in the most acidified areas of southern Nor­ way are suffering from senile dementia than in other parts of "A jolly place," said he, "in times of old/ But something ails it now: the spot is curst. '"-WORDSWORTH. the country. Whilst assuring people that the At a meeting in Luxembourg, ective which instructs member "water is still safe to drink", the the five year struggle ended with states to incorporate the best 10 UK Water Authorities' chiefs the UK abandoning the claim known pollution control techniques have commissioned their own that they were being victimised - whete not prohibitively expen­ study into ways of removing by the other member states. Pre­ sive. aluminium from the public water viously they had complained that Curiously, the directive sets supply. The results of which wlll the UK were being asked to different targets for each state, be made public in the autumn. spend more than any other for example Ireland would be al­ Embarrassingly, Water Author­ nation; and that they were al­ lowed to increase their SO z ities actually add aluminium to ready spending £ 1 blllion on their emissions by 25~o. water supplies, to remove dis­ current clean up programme. The UK target could be met in colouration from peaty water. It At an earlier meeting, UK several ways. The two most also removes acids which would environment minister, Lord Caith­ likely methods are: increasing the otherwise react with the chlorine ness said they were being asked amount of imported low sulphur in the water to create chemicals to implement measures which are coal, or fitting expensive flue gas which are suspected carcinogens. scientifically unattainable. and not desulphurisotion plant to three Aluminium also penetrates the of proven environmental benefit. more large coal fired power sta­ water supply as a result of acid The suggested draft directive, tions at an estimated cost of a rain: when acid rain falls on soil under the German presidency, re­ further £ 1 billion. Energy Secre­ it reacts with the soil chemistry quires the UK to reduce sulphur tary, Cecil Parkinson, tried to to release heavy metals (including dioxide emissions {SOz) by: 25% convince the Department of the aluminium), which can then leach by 1993, 40% by 1998, and 60% Environment, before the meeting, into rivers, and reservoirs. by 2003. It also calls for a two not to make any concessions. He Over 3.5 mlllion people in this stage reduction in nitrogen oxide is concerned that an electricity country are connected to water emissions: 15% by 1993 and 30% industry with tough environmental supplies contaminated with alu­ by 1998. These reductions are controls will be less attractive to minium concentrations above the based on 1980 emission levels. the investor. permitted level.

Renewables Policy . · ·

The Government expect industry ded to sum up research, develop­ partment's view of renewables: to fund renewable energy re­ ment and potential for alterna­ "Alternative or renewable sources search and development to the tives to fossil and fissile fuels, of energy might offer some po­ tune of over £20 million, early in also highlights institutional bar­ tential to increase diversity of the 1990s, according to Energy riers "to the exploitation of supply", and " ...the renewable en­ Paper 55, the latest Deportment renewables." It stipulates that ergies might offer some insurance of Energy {DEn) report on renew­ these will have to removed, and value for the future in the. event able energy. that an "institutional framework of on unforeseen disturbance in According to Michael Spicer, which will ensure that renewobles conventional supplies." (emphasis minister with responsibility for can compete in the market on added). renewable energy, industry's pre­ equal terms with other energy What this document does show sent input of £4 million/year will sources, 11 will be established. This is that despite the Government's need to grow to $20million, in should have been the result of placatory commitment to renew­ conjunction with a rise "to the 1983 Energy Act. able energy and the environment, match" from the Government, if As with most DEn material the UK's safe energy industry is all promising technologies are to regarding renewable energy, read­ poised to become a major force continue to be developed. ing between the lines gives a in the electricity industry post­ The document, which is inten- much clearer picture of the De- privatisation.

22 SCRAM 66, JlLY I AUGUST 1988 APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

cooperation from them," says Wood, "especially in the field of .environmental monitoring." The second round of studies The Government wlll meet half will examine the e·conomic and The first concrete proposal for a of the £ 1.3 million costs of the engineering aspects of the bar­ private power station has been next round of feasibllity studies rage, and should take two years. launched by Thames Power, who into constructing a barrage across Assuming the results are favour­ plan to build a 1 ,OOOM W gas the Mersey. able, construction work would be fired power station, near Barking The Mersey Barrage Consortium unlikely to start before the on the Thames. (MBC), which will match the middle of the next decade. The £500 million plant will be Government money, plan to build Although the technical con­ the first large scale power sta­ the 500MW barrage at an es­ siderations are considerable they tion built in the UK specifically timated cost of £450-500 million. pale into insignlficanc~ when to burn gas. According to Peter Wood, of compared with the institutional Thames Power - a consortium MBC, they have almost comple­ hurdles that will need to be involving Taylor Woodrow, BICC, ted the initial feasibility studies, crossed. and Schroders the merchant bank to discover whether or not "there MBC see their proposal, in - are thought to have Energy are any overriding impediments light of the White Paper on Secretary, Cecll Parkinson's ap­ to the barrage." He adds: "The privatisation, as being in direct proval for the scheme. conclusion of our consultants is competition with the nuclear in­ Burning gas in large power sta­ that there is not." dustry to provide the 20% of tions is prohibited under a Apparently MBC have learnt non-fossil fuelled generating European Community (EC) direc­ from the mistakes of the Severn capacity. tive, which was designed in the Tidal Power Group, and taken the Current accounting methods 1970s to stop dwindling gas sup­ concerns of environmentalists se­ put their proposal at a disadvan­ plies from being depleted too riously. They have set up a con- tage, and may make raising capi­ rapidly. tal for the project, in the City, However, according to Philip difficult. Jones, chairperson of the UK's Nuclear stations have an ex­ Electricity Council, the Com­ pected life span of 30 years, and munity are contemplating aban­ the cost of decommissionlng the doning the directive, in light of a plant, which could be at least series of major new gas dis­ equal to the cost of construc­ coveries. tion, is discounted out. A barrage has no such luxury. They have very high capital costs, and an e The CEGB are also counting expected life span of 120 years. on the directive being abandoned. Over that 120 years expenditure At the recent annual conference would be minimal, as barrages of the Union of Democratic require very little maintenance Mineworkers, Lord Marshall war­ and have no fuel c.:.sts. However ned that home-produced coal conventional accounting tech­ faces "a new challenge from niques would only take into con­ n a t u r al g as for p r o d u c 1 n g sideration the first 30 years of electricity." operation. He added, "Despite all the un­ The Consortium informed the certainties which competition In­ Government of their fears, and evitably brings, I believe that all ELLESMERE PORT have been given assurances, by of us In the electricity Industry Location of the two Mersey barrage sites Michael Spicer, the Minister have a strong predilection to en­ responsible for both nuclear and sure that the coal we burn Is sul tation group which includes renewable energy, that it is their British. There is a ready and both the British Trust for Or­ intention after privatisation that continuing market If the coal In­ nithology and the Royal Society no such disparity should exist. dustry can dellver to the right for the Protection of Birds. "In However details of the solution quality, with unerring rellabllity many ways we have had a lot of have yet to be announced. and of course at the right price.

assessed by conventional valuation ity Producers (AIEP). methods. The Government accord­ They estimate that the CEGB's ingly has agreed, in principle, rateable value is £ 1/kW of in­ that private generators, exporting stalled capacity, where indepen­ Independent electricity producers electricity to the grid, should be dents are charged £50/kW. have been promised a fair deal In rated on a comparable basis to The new rates wUI only effect privatisation by Energy Secretary, the rest of the ESI." independents exporting to the Cecil Parkinson. However the Government's re­ grid. Therefore anyone wishing to valuation programme will not produce electricity for their own In response to a Parliamentary yield any changes untll 1990, by use will still face excessive Question, Parkinson said, "The which time many independents rates. However the Scottish Of­ electricity supply industry (ESI) wlll have been forced out of fice claim private generators not has Its rateable value determined business, "by the burden of ex­ exporting to the grid, could be by a statutory formula while the cessive rates," warns the As­ subject "to something similar to independent generator Is currently sociation of Independent Electric- agricultural devaluation."

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 23 I APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

Energy Conservation · ' -

A European Community directive, Energy conservation has been investment in conservation pro­ designed to force greater con­ placed firmly on the European grammes and conventional power sideration of the environmental agenda. Both the European Com­ stations - which apparently in­ impact of development projects, mission and the International En­ cludes nuclear - 11connot be com­ has not been incorporated into ergy Agency (lEA) are examining pared in ways useful to plonning.11 UK planing low by the required ways in which it can be used to ACE are conducting a study - dote of 3 July. reduce the need for expensive initiated by Europe os port of The directive, arguably the new supply. their drive to reduce the first to affect planning law in The lEA are organising a three Community's fuel wastage be­ this country, calls for prospective day conference, at their head­ tween 1983 and 1995 - to show developers to conduct on en­ quarters in Paris, to examine how 11 investment In energy con­ vironmental impact assessment ways in which the electricity servation con replace the need ( E I A ), c o n f o r m i ng to r1 g i d supply industry can build energy for conventional power stotions.11 guidelines, at their own expense, conservation into their long term The study will investigate 11US el­ for any project likely to hove a forecasting models. ectricity and gas experiences of significant environmental effect. The UK will be represented by subsidising energy saving pro­ The guidelines widen the scope of two conflicting schools of grammes in their customers' fac­ environmental studies, and in· thought: the CEGB and the As­ tories and build­ struct that a wide range of sociation for the Conservation of ings os substitutes topics be discussed: alternatives Energy (ACE). The conference is for conven tlonal to the development, trans-medium by invitation only, and although supply sources, pollution, and sociological impact. the SSEB were invited they have and will identify The onus of. deciding whether not responded. the potential for or not an EIA is required will The CEGB's paper reiterates replication within fall upon local authorities. The the Department of Energy's ar­ the twelve mem­ developer will have the right to gument at the Sizewell B inquiry: ber countries of challenge the local authorities• the EEC ... judgement, and in such cases the They believe the UK - where a Secretary of State will be called substantial power plant construc­ in to arbitrate. The results of an tion programme is scheduled - EIA are to made available to the Two energy efflc:lenc:y companion offers one of the highest poten­ public:, for full consultation. bills have been introduced into tial savings of any country. The directive was agreed in the US Congress, which could The study's initial results will Luxembourg (June 1985) after save consumers $1 0 billion by the be presented at lEA's conference. over 50 drafts and five years of turn of the century. ne-gotiations; and member states The bills call for strict ef­ European Energy · ~ .-- were given three years to marry ficiency standards governing the directive with their own fluorescent lamp ballasts. If ac­ European Commission estimates planning low. cepted, they would negate the of the potential contribution The UK ore trying to imple­ need for about 7,000MW of renewables could make to Eur­ ment the directive whilst at the supply - equivalent to about eight ope's energy supply have come same -time 11the aim has been to new nuclear reactors. This will under heavy assault from the minimise the extra demands on bring the rest of the country into European Parliament. developers and public authorities.•• line with California, but would West German Green MP, Un­ They claim ''the basic: test of the prevent states from enacting dine Bloc:h von Blottnitz, with need for environmental assess­ even tougher legislation. the support of other Euro MPs, ment, in a particular case, is the has issued a report showing that likely significant effects, and not 0 The potentol of small scale renewables could contribute 10% the amount of opposition or con­ independent electricity production of European Energy requirements troversy to which a project gives has been highlighted by Virginia by the end of the century, and rise.11 Power, in the US. 25% by 2020: considerably more Each government department When they recently requested than the "timid11 5-6%, by 2000, will produce a white paper based private bids for 1,700MW of forecast by the Commission. on their interpretation of the electricity they received offers The report also calls for an directive. The Department of En­ for over 20,000MW. Their current 'energy risk tax• which is in­ ergy have yet to do this, but, total capacity Is only 12,000M W, tended to cover two points: the expect to produce one shortly. so they could afford to close economic risk associated with Meanwhile they have tried to their two nuclear stations. over-dependence on one energy adopt the directive into their William Berry, the Chairman of source, and the safety risks as­ planning procedures, the Hinkley Virginia Power's pu,ent company, sociated with nuclear power. Inquiry being the first example of Dominion Resources lnc, believes The revenue from the tax, this. As a result they will have 11 there is plenty of supply ••• I argue the MPs, should go towards to consider• alternative sources of would expect other states and research and development prog­ energy, and other possible con­ other utlllities to say this is the rammes into renewable energy struction sites. way to go.•• sources. The Department of the En­ Texas, Callforna and Mas­ Unfortunately, the European vironment told SCRAM that they sachusetts have already put some Parliament only has advisory expect to comply with the direc­ of their generating requirements status, and the Commission has a tive later this year. out to tender. right of veto.

24 SCRAM 66, JULY/AUGUST 1988 APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY

SDA 's special industrial projects sumer in 1990; 2-3 years ahead section, stresses the project Is of its counterparts south of the still in its embryonic stage: Border, giving the Scottish wind "Whether the windpark is built industry an advantage when the Scotland looks set to host the depends upon the outcome of the European markets are opened up UK 's first windpark, despite the feasibility study." He is, however, in 1992. recent spate of Department of quietly confident and prophesied Energy {DEn) announcements that "there wlll be no problem in three demonstration windparks gaining permission for the will be built in England and project." Wales, by the CEGB. Howden will provide the mach­ Scottish Windpark Develop­ ines, each rated between 300- ments, a group brought together 500kW. A 3-10MW windpark is by the Scottish Development envisaged; which would provide Agency - including James Howden enough power for up to 6,600 & Co of Glasgow, The National households. Engineering Laboratories {NEL) in The prospective site, a bleak East Kilbride, and EMST AR Ltd moorland cu.rrently used for graz­ (a subsidiary of the oil giant ing sheep {which could continue Shell) - plan to conduct feasi­ after a short construction period), bility studies into constructing a Is also the location of NEL's Na­ windpark near Eaglesham, 15 tional Wind Turbine Testing miles south of Glasgow. Pre­ Centre: George Elliot the Cen­ liminary work on the £250,000 tre's manager describes the area study, of which the DEn have as "an ideal site for a windpark." promised to pay £60,000, is al­ Although the site is close to ready being carried out by NEL. Eaglesham it is not visible from Richard Morris, head of the the village, and neither is it within hearing range - so the group do not anticipate any strong, local opposition. If all goes according to plan Feasibility studies are being con­ the windpark could be producing e The CEGB have announced the ducted into creating a renewable economic electricity for the con- possible site for their third wind energy park on the coast of park: Langdon Common in the Kent. northern Pennines. The project appears to be the The two previously announced brain-child of Peter Rawstrone, sites (SCRAM 65) are: Cold chair of the two companies at The controversial plan to use mil­ Northcott in Cornwall, and Capel the forefront of the proposal: lions of tonnes of US domestic Cynon in Dyfed. Kastle Development Ltd (KDL), waste to generate methane gas and Kent 2000. from landflll in Cornwall (SCRAM an angry response from local Rawstrone promotes the com­ 65), has been changed, as a people who fear lorries carrying plex which will cover "some result of massive local opposition. waste will pass through their vil• 1,200 acres of land, half of It The company involved, Power lages 10 hours a day for 3 years. reclaimed," as "the first project Waste and Water, now propose to The Nation(ll Farmers Union of Its kind in the world to be bulld a plant to convert the have requested that the Ministry designed from the begining a­ waste directly to methane and of Agriculture should use its round renewable energy sources." refuse derived pellets. Landfill veto, under the Animal and It is their intention to use only wlll now only be necessary for Poultry Products Order 1980, to proven technologies and hardware. the first 3 years, whilst a 40MW stop the Importation of the 1.2 The complex will include a power station Is being built. million tonnes of US waste, via 10MW wind park, 2km off the The first sites being examined Falmouth harbour. They believe Kentish coast. This wlll be the are in Cornwall, where valleys that rats and other vermin special function of KDL, who are made virtually sterile by the tin brought over with the waste already Involved in the 0.75MW industry could be used for land­ could spread diseases such as Howden prototype the CEGB will fill. PWW have reached an agree­ rabies and foot and mouth. How­ place 5km off the Norfolk coast ment with the landowners, mining ever, PWW claim that vermin next year. company Carnon Consolidated would suffocate in the sealed The Kent machines, Howden Ltd. containers, during shipping, or be 1 MW turbines, will be assembled As yet PWW have not reques­ crushed when the waste is com­ on-shore, and then floated out on ted planning permission from the pacted. a small barge. They will be fixed local authority. But it is under­ There is one postive spin-off to the seabed, at a depth of stood that informal talks with from the proposal. It is forcing about 50m, using relatively small Cornwall County Council and the issue of poor waste disposal steel piles. Rawstrone believes Carrlck District Council have legislation In this country to be "KDL 's simple design meets the yellded a favourable response. examined; and could result in a challenge of making an offshore Now that land agreement has rise in the cost of UK landflll installation competitive with one been reached, a series of public whlch would not only prohibit on-shore." meetings will be held, where other proposals like PWW's, but If all goes according to plan PWW wlll explain their plan to make using domestic waste as a the project could be "operational the local community. The first power source in this country by 1993." meeting, held In May, produced more attractive.

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 25 I REVIEWS

The Chernobyl Disaster by Viktor Haynes and Marko Bojcun. Hogarth, 1988, 233pp, £7.95.

Something in the Wind: Politics after Chernobyl by Louis Mackay and Mark Thompson (eds). Pluto, .~...... - . . ~· ..... 1988, 240pp, £19.95 (pbk £7.95). ~: .:...~-:·:..__ :~- .: ;:.<14: . .. Chernobyl: The Real Story by Richard F Mould. .1}.~5tl~' .. Pergamon, 1988, 255pp, £25 (pbk: £9.95). - ~-.,.i;;.·,. ·••· .lt·, ....~ .... Chernobyl: The Final Warning by Dr Robert P Gale and Thomas Hauser. Hamish Hamilton, 1988, 213pp, £12.95. CHERNOBYL: WAND COMMUNICATION Chernobyl: Law and Communication by Philippe Sands. Grotius, 1988, 312pp, £38.

On its second birthday, the Cher­ and Bojcun have nobyl industry predictably swung created a valuable once more into action, with a social history, clutch of books published. These which will be as range from technical lists of use comprehensible to only to researchers and aca­ the nuclear novice demics, to pulp recollections as it is useful to cynically rehashed and trotted the historian. They out for the most frightened and both studied at the susceptible part of the market. Institute of East First off the shelf is The European Studies at Chernobyl Disaster. Of the five Glasgow University, books examined here, it is un­ and Bojcun's ex­ doubtedly the clearest and most pertise in contem­ accessible document on Cher­ porary soviet pol­ nobyl. It pieces the disaster itics here comple­ together, with a strong accent on ments Haynes' local Ukrainian news reports and background in the interviews, . from the beginning power industry. of the ill fated reactor experi­ However, the se­ ment, through the fire fight, cond port of this fall-out, costs to human health, book (which earns to the clean up operation. its subtitle: 'An Unanswerable In­ people, but that is surely well dictment of Nuclear Power'), documented elsewhere. could be more analytical without Sadly, the two books which Viktor Haynes &Marko Bojcun detracting from its clarity. should be the best, by virtue of F or a f u 11 a n a 1 y s is o f their authors' involvement in the Chernobyl's political fall-out turn disaster, turn out to be the to Something in the Wind, its worst. Mould was present at the subtitle of 'Politics After 1986 IAEA Chernobyl post­ THE Chernobyl' for once accurately accident review meeting in re f 1e c t1 ng w h at t he b o o k Vienna. His book merely presents achieves, not what it aims to do. the disaster in pictures. t:DERNOBl'L As one might expect fro·m the And Or Gale's offering is no editors of the END Journal, no more than a reminiscence of his punches are pulled in criticising visit to Moscow - how he met East or West; refreshing after Gorbachev, went jogging, what the more partisan offerings from he had for breakfast - when it DISASTER should have been a fascinating the nuclear lobby. Worth picking out from this collection of essays insight from someone who was THE TRUE STORY OF are the two chapters by the actually involved in the disaster. editors. They examine the state Lastly comes Chernobyl: Law of the environmental and peace and Communication. This is ACATASTROPHE­ movements following the disaster, simply a collection of the full and, more pertinently, its cata­ texts of the 23 international AN UNANSWERABLE lytic effect on them. treaties covering nuclear acci­ Also worth keeping for refer­ dents with transboundary ef­ INDICTMENT OF ence is the fascinating chapter fects. It is unlikely to be in your by Zhores Medvedev on the local library, but is available NUCLEAR POWER 2. political history of the Soviet from Grotius Sales, PO Box 115, nuclear power programme. Quite Cambridge CB3 9BP. what will replace nuclear power By concentrating on those most is not adequately addressed, involved with the disaster Haynes which will disappoint some THOM DIBDIN

26 SCRAM 66, JUlYI AUGUST 1988 REVIEWS

Energy Efficiency in Buildings: measure meets some of these the grassroots. Progress and Prom is e. F M goals it is unlikely to be adopted. Tide Lines - on anthology of O'Hara Jr (Ed). They may be willing to spend poetry and pictures commissioned, thousands on a solar collector by the Druridge Boy Campaign, Energy Efficiency: Perspectives which will never pay for itself, from artists of local and national on Individual Behavior. Willet but unwilling to get their house repute, "in the cause of preserv­ Kempton and Max Neiman (Eds). draughtproofed - its just not ing our Northumbrian heritage, glamorous enough. and by implication the heritage (Both books published by The book recommends utilities of the entire British Isles" (or American Council for an Energy• to identify potential conservers indeed the World!) - breathes Efficient Economy. Both $19.50 + by looking for people who pur­ emotion back into the heart of $7 postage or $10 for the two). chase other high technology protest. equipment, then offer to arrange Sadly many of the poems and for devices to be installed, and pictures are prophetic premoni­ Although these two books are rely on word-of-mouth networks tions which could be spoken in about the situation in the US, to pass on the message. lament of our natural heritage, mu eh of the background is I hope that others will read rather than sung in celebration. familiar - fuel costs rising faster these books so that we can lobby This is not an optimistic Swan than inflation; fuel poverty; for and implement an energy ef­ Song for the nuclear industry, rapidly rising costs of nuclear ficiency strategy rapidly, and but an aria heralding the four power, and concern about acid perhaps catch up with some of policemen of the apocalypse. rain. the more enlightened countries. It may be too late for many Progress in the States has been In Thatcher's Britain, for such areas of lost beauty, but much more rapid than in this huge gaps in the market to exist Druridge Bay need not be country,. so as a pointer for the for much longer can only be sacrificed on the nuclear altar. It UK the first book is invaluable. described as a criminal waste of is time the Government listened Energy plans are proliferating and opportunity. to the voice of the people - the scale of possible savings as­ spoken in these pages - and tounding. Electric utilities can PETE ROCHE called a halt to the madness drastically reduce their operating w h i eh t h r e a t e ns n ot o n 1y costs & investment requirements Druridge, but also the very fabric and help the economy in the of humanity which creates com­ process. munities that core. The cost effectiveness of pas­ sive and active solar energy, MIKE TOWNSLEY retrofitting existing homes and superinsulation is examined. Large savings may be available in the Southern States, but little work has been done on the energy Acid Rain: Rhetoric and Reality saving potential of space cooling. by Chris C Park. Methuen, 1987, Efficient appliances can make 272pp, £14.95. a valuable contribution - the ex­ tra investment required has a rate of return of between 12% "This most excellent canopy, the and 45%. air, look you, this brave Future potential savings are o'erhanging firmament, this still enormous despite the rapid mojestical roof fretted with strides made over the last 10 golden fire, why, it appeareth years. Indeed the country is nothing to me but o foul and faced with "insurmountable oppor­ pestilent congregation of tunities." vapours." Hamlet, 11 ,ii ,299. Energy Efficiency: Perspectives This is not only the most com­ on Individual Behavior must be prehensive volume on acid rain I the first of its kind. It shows hove read, but also the most that previous efforts to improve pleasurable. Park appears to have the public's conservation be­ enjoyed the writing of this book, haviour may have been based on and punctuates its chapters with false assumptions. Improving quotations like the example people's attitude to conservation above. doesn't necessarily make conser­ Tide Lines: A Celebration of For once, the sleeve notes say vation behaviour more likely. Druridge. Druridge Boy Campaign, it all: "As a broad and balanced Similarly, assuming that con­ 1988, 47pp, £1.95. treatment of a heated subject, sumers act in the same way as Acid Rain is a valuable text book an economically rational investor for students of geography, en­ can produce hopelessly inaccurate Emotion is often forgotten in vironmental studies, conservation results. these days of professional inter­ and energy policy. It will appeal Basically there is no simple notional protest groups. Endless to anyone who wants a better blueprint for encouraging energy­ reams of quasi-governmental understanding of the acid rain efficient behaviour. Most people reports levelled at unsuspecting debate." hove goals other than saving authorities tend to dehumanise money, and unless an efficiency the movement, alienating it from MIKE TOWNSLEY

JULY/AUGUST 1988, SCRAM 66 27 LITTLE BLACK RABBIT

Now the Hinkley Inquiry is about costs, the CEGB realise they will to start, Little B l ock Rabbit inevitably lose the argument. In o thought it m ight be interesting to vain attempt to extract them­ find ou t what Boron Morsholl of selv es from this embarrassing Goring th inks of public inquiries. position, they claim that even if During the Sizewell Inquiry he nuclear power was less than told the American business mag­ economic "it would still be worth azine F o rbes: "I expect to get installing some nuclear plant t o approval in about o year's time. diversify the sources of primary By t hat time the British Public energy." will be bored to tears by nuclear Considering that 50% of elec­ power. That of course is the pur­ tricity in Scotland will be coming The campaign against Nlrex hos pose of having o Public Inquiry." from nuclear sources if To rness grown wings. LBR's friends on Lord Morsholl should watch his ever works, this is o use of the Tiree were given free tickets to tongue or he may suffer t he word diverse with which LBR was fly to Glasgow by Lagonoir, so some fate os h is 17th Century not hitherto acquainted. they could attend a meeting, namesake, t he Royalist General with Nil ex, In Inverness, or­ Goring. In 1645 Goring besieged ganised by the Centre for Taunton, which was defended by EconoMic ond Environmental t he townsfolk and Porliomen­ Sir John Sinclolr could be turning Development. Thanks to Loganoir, tarions. He was defeated, and the in his grove at what his descend­ Nirex now know what the is­ Porliomentorlons then went on to ent Robin Sinclair, aka Lo rd landers think of their proposals. c apture Bridgewoter, within o Thurso, is up to. couple of weeks, and thus The wise and enlightened Sir brought the whole of Somerset John, lived In 18th century under democratic control. LBR Caithness and was the first man Sotorl in the Scottish Office: believes history will repeat itself to graze Cheviot sheep In the "Today there is on increasing ot the Hinkley Inquiry. County. He urged caution and awareness throughout society of consideration, and the absorption the importance of the environ­ of the native people into the new ment. Environmental issues such economy: sheep. Unfortunately he as o c i d rain, do m o g e I o the LBR, being on avid reader of was ignored, and all around him ozone layer and the greenhouse pro-nuclear literature, has noticed immersed t hemselves in one of effect oil make headline news - somet hing rather odd about the the most barbaric acts of English and rightly so. These ore mo j or latest propaganda emanating from colonialism - the Highland Clear­ G lobal issues which, to be tack­ the Nuclear Ministry of Trut h: ances. led effect ively, require coopera­ Sudbury House. As honorary president of the tive Governmental efforts on o "The original aim of the British Cai t hness Tourist Board, Lord global scale." So says Lord Jomes nuclear power programme" claims Thurso, o former Liberal Douglos-Homilton MP, minist er the CEGB's latest work, "wos not spokespeer, should reconsider his for the Environment a t the Scot­ to make e lectr icity cheaper but responsibility to the community, tish Office. to supplement foss il fuel re­ and tell Nlrex where to put their LBR has decided not to com­ serves." waste. Present Joy h.Jhlonders m ent, but to let our readers Now that Michoel Bornes QC ma y no t be os amenable to judge whether the Government is has a llowed Hinkley C objectors forced emigration os their really helping to tackle these to compar e nuclear and cool predecessors. issues. SUB FORM WAGES FORM Is the fast breeder ever going to provide o signif!cant amount of I would like to subscribe to SCRAM . I Please fill out the standing order electricity? If you believe John enclose cheque/postal order, payable form below and send it to us. Collier, the UKAEA choir, its fu­ to SCRAM for: To the Manager: ture economic success appears to Bank be becoming exponentiolly less Concession £5 Address likely. Ordinary £10 In on interview with on Inde­ Overseas [12 pendent television team in Oc­ Supporting £15 tober last year, Mr Collier od­ lnstl tutions Please pay on (1st payment) £25 mi t ted the nuclear version of the LHe sub (50 the sum of from my account number to the Royal Bank of philosophers' stone wos unlikely Scotldnd, 142/144 Princes Street, to be needed until 2020-2030. Name Edinburgh (83-51-00) for the credit This June the some team in­ Address of SCRAM number 2 account 258S97 and terviewed him again. This time make simllar payments monthly/yearly. he claimed the ET A for success was not likely to be until 2030- Tel Signed Da t e 2040.

Please ret~rn th_s form to: ~nA•li this t~o:es~sion~1 ~ .,. 3020, the ]] SCRAM , 11 Forth Street, Edinburgh f1 rste ~~~~ EHl 3LE . Tel: 031 557 4283/4 . hove s 8 ..,,. fast br l'der! w v-. aka o~~ ; JJ Or 1tind 2017

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