52 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 5Qp

A-Tests: Britain Guilty Comment Down in thl:! :Jumps 3 Bacteria - a potential hazard for waste dumping by Don Arnott. News 4-6 Dounreay News 7 Nuclear Law Sutt 8 The leak of plutonium nitrate vapour from a Malays1an company must clean up its faulty pump in Windscale's B205 chemical operations by sahabat Alam !·~a!ay- separation plant is the latest in a series sia. of incidents at the plant. This time an VDU' s and Health Q Tne health ef:ects of the new ~ec~­ 'amber alert' was sounded . The only other nology by Tony Webb. amber alert was in September 1973 when 35 BP and Roxby Downs 10-!1 workers were contaminated with Ruthenium in The Brit1sh multinat~ona1 01 : com­ par.y's involvement in an Aus::.:;;l!.:m a 'blow-back' accident in building B204. urantum m1ne by S1gr1d Shayer . The building remains closed to this day. A-Tests: Britain guilty 12-13 The findings of the Aust~a l ~an The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate Royal comm1ssion by Paul Draper. (NII) published a report of the accident in NPT - No Peace Tomorrow (6) 13-14 An account of the 1985 NPT ReVlew August 1974 which disclosed that one man Conference by Jos Gallacher. was estimated to have up to 40 micro curies The Inspector Calls 15 Does the nuclear watchdog have any of the material in his lun~s . Ruthenium is teeth? bv Ros1e Bell. a relatively low energy beta emitter with a The Charter for Energy Efficiency 16 17 short half life. The report stated that no A bold new initiat1ve from local worker 'is expected to suffer any physical author1t1es and trade unions by sus1e Parsons. harm, but all will continue to be medically Scotland's Housing Crisis 18 superVlsed. ' The Convem::on of Scottlsh LOcal Authorities campa1gn for 1ncreased The recent acciaent could be far investment in housing by Steve worse. The plutonium released as a mist is Mart~n. Appropriate Technology 19-21 potentially the most dangerous form , and it Rev1e-tJs 22-23 is a high energy alpha emitter. At the time Listlngs ar.d Li~tle Black Raobit 24 of going to press the amount released is about 50 micro curies, but this represents the estimate for the atmospheric release; Don ArnoLt 1s a tormer consultant for the the level in the building could have been, tnLernat ional Atomic t·;nergy Agency. and almost certainly was, much higher . sahabat Alam Mdlaysia is the tt,alaysidn branch BNFL has now adm1ttec that at least of r-·nends of the Earth International. two workers were contaminated in the leak 'I'ony \olo>bb works with the Trade Union Radiation although earlier statements from the site and Health lntormation Service. implied that staff were not affected: there Sigrid Shayer 1s active in Lhe green and peace was 'no positive indication that any em­ novenenLs. ployee had been contaminated' . Plutonium contamination in the lungs is very serious. Paul Draper works as a researcher with Green­ peace. The decision to start up reprocessing Jos Gallache[ is the Labour Party's Prospec­ operations only 15 hours after the alert tive Par liafl'entary Candidate for Lancaster. was sounded and before the NII report is susie Parsons is the DevelopmLondon Eneryy and Errployment Hl:'lwork. fact that BNFL will be presenting the joint case with the OKAEA in support of their application for a fast reactor fuel repro­ cessing plant at Dounreay may have some­

'1'111S iournal is proouced f"r tl.r- f\t t l t$h 1\rolt·tlu<'lr-.H thing to do with the premature restart: dll'l Sdl

Editor: Steve Mart1n The l1st of nuclear dump sites were N<'\YS Ech tor: Tom Dtbdin supposed to have been published by now, as Hevtews Editor: HOSH! Bell GraphiCS: W11f Plum was the Environment Select Cormnittee 's Ldyout: Mdy Wtshart critical report on reprocessing. This leak Sl1~\.'1, 11 ForthStre<>l, Edinl.>urgh ~111 Jt.t:; could delay the publication still further . Td: OJJ SS7 4?.83/ 4 ISSN 0140 7340 Bt-monthly Amber usually means caution; as far as

Oeadlutt' for the nt>xl tSSUP: Windscale is concerned it must mean STOP , Art1cles 14 March, News 21 ~1.Jrcl1. now!

2 Down In The Dumps Underground disposal of nuclear waste has been the subject of much controversy: will it contaminate the water table, can it be monitored and retrieved, which rock type should be chosen? But research now indicates another potential problem bacteria. Here Don Arnott reviews some of the literature and appeals for microbiologists to investigate the issue. When the great debate about nuclear We are familiar with the bacte­ waste repositories got under way the ria which make us ill, frustrate our questions were restricted to matters antibiotics and occasionally break of physics, chemistry and geology. loose with epidemic force. But there FOr example, deep ocean trenches: are others, of less distinct impor­ very deep, very cold, little oxygen, tance to us; it is nearly true to little mixing with other waters. In say that for every set of circum­ purely mechanical terms, ideal; or stances on our planet there will be so it was said. a micro-organism making a vigorous The fifth report examines the A main theme of my evidence to living. These are the ones which microbiology of the Hacwell and the Cheviots Public Inquiry in 1980 concern N:ERC - and us. Altnabreac boreholes. was that the research base was in­ There are bacteria which live More and more one wonders about adequate for taking irreversible on sulphur, producing sulphuric acid the rationality of those in charge decisions about nuclear waste dispo­ in concentrations which forbid all of waste disposal policy; on the one sal, and that it was more than like­ other life; others live on iron, hand they are hell-bent on getting ly that important issues remained to arsenic, or heavy metals. Some mi­ their underground repositories for be discovered. The first of those cro-organisms require oxygen, others irreversible disposal,_ and on the issues has now surfaced. cannot abide it. And (perhaps you other they are funding new options It has emerged that the pro­ are expecting this by now) many of for study such as ttie ENSEC proposal posed repositories are inhabited them are enormously resistant to (see scram 48): what for, if the environments. The inhabitants are, ionising radiation, surviving doses decision is already taken? And now mostly, bacteria. It is, consequent­ of many thousands of Rem. we have a new dimension for study. ly, no longer possible to evaluate On or beneath the surface of It doesn't add up. any of these solely in terms of the land or sea, you can find bacteria. Bacteria do something which the non-life sciences. Only one rule do they obey: no water rest of us are supposed not to do: no life, but even this limitation over the generations (bacteria re­ Insignificant or Horrendous they defy by forrr.ing spores which produce every 20 minutes} they in­ can lie dormant for extremely long herit acquired characteristics thus I shall begin by citing my periods of time in hope of better responding to env~ror.mental change. authority: this issue, though new things to cane. Recently some have begun to live on and doubtless unwelcome for that plastics. What they will do if we reason, is something which has to be NERC Reports dump radioactive waste amongst them taken very seriously indeed. The remains to be seen! And until it is National Environmental Research The NERC Fluid Processes Group seen the only possible solution is Council (NERC} has published five reports listed below fall into two to take advantage of the sole weak weighty reports on the subject, of categories: the first two reports link which micro-organisms share which I give full details below in are simply annotated bibliographies. with the rest of the living world; the hope of interesting some micro­ The second two are strictly for they cannot do without water. Keep biologists into giving the matter microbiologists but their proposals the waste bone-dry - which rules out some study. for further study seem to support my underground repositories in this wet The reports state that all the definition of the situation. island -and all they can do.is to microbial groups which they have The third paper deals with the form inactive spores. discovered, and begun to study, 'are clays of Oxfordshire, which have No scare stories: but the issue relevant to the containment of ra­ been proposed as backfill material. is new, it is important and it has dioactive waste'. How much so, no­ Large numbers of bacteria were to be watched. body knows yet: the consequences found. Proposals for further study might be insignificant or horrendous include means of inhibiting or con­ References or anything in between - or on the trolling bacterial activity in re­ other hand bacteria might have a pository material. The fourth study The relevant reports, listed below, useful role to play as radioactive investigated mines in Cornwall, Der­ are all published by the Fluid Pro­ waste immobilisers. byshire and Cumbria and found a cesses Research Group and may be What matters is that we have to similar picture. One paragraph from obtained from the British Geological stop considering repositories as the summary reads: Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 dead environments, and research the 5GG. consequences of that: all of which 'All the microbial groups iso­ merely goes to reinforce our stance 1 West, McKinley and Christofi: Geomi­ lated are relevant to the con­ crobiology and its Relevance to NUclear against irreversible disposal in the tainment of radioactive waste. waste Disposal: an annotated bibliography. present state of knowledge. Sulphate reducing bacteria ENPU 82-8 would be important in the corr­ 2 West and Arme: Geomicrobiology and its osion of steel; sulphur oxidi­ Relevance to Nuclear waste Disposal - a sers. would increase the further annotated bibliography. FLPU 84-9 3 Philp, Christofi and West: The Geomi­ acidity of ground water affec­ crobiology of Calcium Monmorillonite (FUll­ ting the integrity of con­ er's Earth). FLPU 84-4 cretes; and microbial groups 4 Christofi, West, Philp and Robbins: precipitating n~tals, eg iron, The Geomicrobiology of used and Disued Mines in Britain. FLPU 84-5 would retard the nvvement of 5 Christofi, West, Rabbis and McKinley: released nuclides. ' The Gear.icrobiology of the Harwell and Altnabreac boreholes. ENI?U 83-4 3 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 •News RADHealth- New regulations governing workers exposure to radiation came into force on the first of January this year. They retain the previous legal limit of an annual whole body dose of 5 rems, as recarmended in 1977 by the International Commission on Rad­ iological Protection ( ICRP ) • ()')e of the main changes under the -ronising Radiations Regulations levels of airborne plutonium have workers, may not give results which 1985" is that the newly appointed been found in the decanning plant, adequately represent t .he intake of radiation protection advisors have known as B 30. each individual worker", and that now to investigate the cause of any Management have so far refused the results can be wrong -by a fac­ exposure exceeding 30% of legal to issue personal air samplers to tor which may well lie between 100 limits and make recommendations for all the personnel in B 30, although and 1000" . inprovements. it is known that they measure radio-­ The union involved is que.stion­ For the first time, radiation active uptake far more effectively ing BNFL's claim that the previous doses received internally will be than tne static air samplers in working levels were safe. Backdated included in ~he calculation of whole current use. The ICRP have stated -danger money- payments of £1000 are body doses. This is causing problems that -static sanplers, even if loc­ being asked for, along with an extra for BNFL at sellafield, where high ated close to the breathing zone of £4~ per wee~. • Campaign

The Consumer Campaign was set up in Nuclear power has many other and is invested; any interest or 1981 as a Charitable Trust. It rep­ inherent problems - environmentally donations are used to help the de­ resents a way for the person in the hazardous, unnecessary in demand velopment of appropriate technology. street to take direct action against terms, a threat to civil liberties The operation of the Trust fund the juggernaut which the electricity and a spur to nuclear weapons proli­ gives the witholders some legal and nuclear industry has become. feration - but the Consumer campaign protection altnough it is up to the The Campaign is based on the has chosen to highlight the conomic individual how far the protest will argument that, in producing electri­ aspects, being an issue which is go; some people pay up after recei­ city by nuclear power , the Electri­ often ignored. ving a disconnection notice and city Boards are failing in their TO take part in the Consumer others have even gone the whole way statutory duties to provide the campaign you withold 11% of your to disconnection and taken legal consumer with the cheapest form of electricity bill (11% is a symbolic action. electricity. Nuclear power is more figure Which represents the propor­ The theoretical aim of the expensive than the alternatives if tion of nuclear power generation in Trust is to hold the money until the capital, interest and R&D costs Britain when the Trust was set up in such time as the Electricity Boards are taken into account, as has been 1981). The remaining portion is paid stop using and promoting nuclear shown by Colin SWeet and others, and to the Electricity Board with a power and begin serious considera­ in gentler terms by the Monopolies covering letter explaining the rea­ tion t:o the alternatives. and Mergers Commission and the House sons for witholding. The witheld Although it has been going of C0111ll0ns Energy Select Conmittee. portion is paid into the Trust fund since 1981, and t})ere are now 14 local groups, the Consumer Campaign is still a small force. We are curr­ ently making a determined effort to attract more witholders as only a •Druridge mass protest will have sufficient impact on the huge and faceless Druridge Bay Campaigner Martin organisations which control our Spence of Newcastle upon Tyne spent power supplies. his winter holiday in America. He visited Harrisburg, Pennsylvania­ Contact consumer Campaign National the site of the accident at the Coordinators, c/o Anti-Nuclear Cam­ Three M.ile Island Pressurised Water paign Office, PO Box 216, Sheffield Reactor in March 1979. Sl lBD. Martin is pictured here (left) with Eric Epstein, a worker with Three Mile Island Alert, a citizen protest group. The frozen susque­ hanna River runs between the island nuclear site and surrounding farm­ land: Whereas Unit 2 Reactor (the one which had t})e accident) is totally ruined and highly radioactive, Unit 1 was restarted on 8 January this year. The restart was approved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Comm­ ission, and upheld by the Supreme Court, despite efforts of local government opposition. The Oruridge Bay Campaign has established contact with Three Mile Island Alert, and have asked them to become their twin campaign. 4 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 • Waste A giant xmas cracker was pulled outside the Department of the Envi­ ronment on 17 December by represen­ tatives of four areas likely to be affected by nuclear dumping propo­ sals. Inside the cracker were four symbolic nuclear waste barrels. Each barrel contained a message of opposition addressed to William Waldegrave, the Minister who was at that time deciding which sites to choose as dumping grounds for the nation's nuclear waste. Each barrel represented the 365,000m 3 of nuclear waste which would be dumped in a national shallow waste burial site. FOur councillors and four local community representatives helped to pull the cracker. They represented the counties of Bedfordshire, BUck­ ingham~hire, Humberside and Oxford­ shire. Three of the four county coun­ cils likely to be affected already oppose the dump proposals strongly. Fr\IEIV[)S OF I I Oxfordshire formally considers the J TilE t/1~111 WliJ/7 matter early this year, but the If local Parish Council at Arncott has decided to oppose dumping plans now. Each area has been under the threat of dumping for many months as IJ 111/lDTE-f!EEI fE!tl YEIJO the DoE has progressively delayed an announcement of the sites since May 1985. The councillors present were anxious that the Minister should make his announcement soon in order 'This is the first time that repre­ be tempted to play one local commun­ to allay fears and anxiety in their sentatives of the four affected ity off against another, but this areas. dumping areas have joined together approach will serve only to unite Stewart Boyle, Friends of the in opposition to the waste dumping the public's opposition to his Earth's Energy Campaigner, said,. proposals. Wi lliam \'laldegrave might plans.' 11 Luxembourg Luxembourg's first nuclear power plant is not allowed to raise the station is expected to begin elec­ river temperature by more than tricity production in september this 1.5°c, and water volume depleted by year. The station is at Cattenom on the cooling towers must be replaced the Moselle river which forms the from the storage lake sh3uld the natural border between Luxembourg river's flow fall below 26m /s. and West Germany, and is to consist The French government would of four Pressurised Water Reactors like the liquid radioactive dis­ of l300MW capacity each. work star­ charge level to be set at 65 curies­ ted on t~e plant in April 1978 and /year but the German and Luxembourg it is to be managed by Electricite limits are only l2Ci/year. Gaseous de France (EdF). discharge levels are also felt to be The cooling water will come too high: in general French law f5om the Moselle at a rate of 9 permits 17 times more discharges t o m/sand will .be fed from the reac­ the atmosphere than German law. I Fusion tors into the Mirgenbach artificial The Treaty, which has not yet An agreement has recently been storage lake for intial cooling been ratified, does not allow Luxem­ signed which will unite the fusion before being pumped up the four l65m bourg or Germany to establish radio­ research programmes of Europe, the hi~h cooling towers. In the towers activity monitoring systems, and US and Japan. This follows the 3m /s w~l evaporate and the remai­ also prohibits them controlling agreement between the us and the ning 6m /s w111 be returned to the water terrperature and radioactive USSR made during the recent Reagan­ river. In hot summers this could disharges from the nuclear plant. /Gorbachov summit. result in serious thermal pollution Monitoring equipment will be in­ The concord calls for collab­ because the flow rate of the M~elle stalled fn the countries away from oration between the OS Tokamak can drop to as low as only lOm /s. the site but they will be of little Fusion Test Reactor at Princeton, Regulations governing radioac­ use in the event of an accident at New Jersey, the Joint European tive and thermal discharges are the plant because there cannot be an Torus at Culham and the JT-60 at incorporated in a Luxenbourg/France early warning of approaching gas Naka-machi in Japan. Convention. The Convention seeks to clouds. Each system, although based on limit t he maximum temperature of the The Commission which supervises Tokamak, has differeht objectives river to 28°c which, despite the the Moselle Navigation Convention is and they are all vying with each fact that it will be seldom reached examining the proposals. A court of other for the lead in the technol­ even during hot summers, independent arbitration, comprising three mem­ ogy. The three teams intend to observers believe is set too high. bers, will decide in the case of any exchange information and scien­ Also the r iver is already polluted disagreement between the countries tists. and the Treaty does not consider involved. A public consultation pro­ chemical discharges. The nuclear cess was completed in December. New Scient ist, 30. 1.86 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 5 RAD Pill first time in the UK on 29 Noverrber 1985, following a gas leak at the Hinkley B reactor. The leak was the third and most serious at Binkley in a month, and the second involving the cooling system. Eight tonnes of carbon Di­ oxide at 3ooo c escaped from the reactor through a one inch hole, at 261 pound per square inch. The hole was caused by a pressure build up near a gas circulator. This blew out an unbolted spindle when a cover plate was removed. Tbe CEGB claim that nausea and · vomiting which followed the release was confined to those who took the In the last journal we carried an pills on an empty stomach. Local Staff shortages at the Nuclear In­ article about an anti-radiation reports refute this, stating that stallations Inspectorate (NII) are pill, which saturates the thyroid people living downwind of the site threatening the safety of Britain's gland with iodine, effectively experienced nausea, and even vom­ aging Magnox reactors, already over­ blocking any further intake of the iting following the accidents, and stretched during the miners strike. l~thal radioiodine-131 . The pill, they had not been given the pills The already depleted NII are which to be effective JruSt be taken· or even knew of the accident at the being transferred from London to before exposures, was used for the time. Bootle, Merseyside, a move which the staff claim will necessitate an extra 10-15 inspectors to compensate for increased travel time. I Judas Five Magnox reactors are cur­ rently waiting for their 20 year Shadow environment spokesman safety reviews, with several more Jack Cllnningham MP has broken Labour due this year. Recent accidents at Party ranks over the issue of nuc­ two of these reactors underline the lear power . CUnningham chose the dangers of the Government's policy pages of the BNFL enployee news­ not to bring the NII up to full paper, BNFL news , to attack the strength. The first accident was at Labour party conference decision to the Trawsfynnydd station in wales. A oppose the civil nuclear progranrne, fire broke out in a turbine hall, saying that he did not expect the when an oil lead broke, damaging the decision to be included in the next rotar blading and shrouding of the manifesto. turbine. The second accident was at As reported in the last jour­ the Sizewell A reactor, where half a nal, the motion which called for •a tonne of contaminated carbon dioxide halt to the nuclear power prograrrrne decisions to shut whole industries leaked from a faulty pipe. The fire and a phasing out of existing down" in Trawsfynnydd reactor highlights plants.•• • did not receive the. CUnningham's stand on nuclear the obsolescence of parts of the necessary two thirds majority to power is seen by some groups as station, although it is suwosed to make it party policy. being inconpitible with his position stay on line until 1995. (See SCRAM CUnningham told BNFL News: "The in the shadow cabinet. In the next 51). Labour Party is in the business of election he will defend an 1800 looking for structures to create majority at his Copeland constit­ jobs and investments in Britain. It uency which includes the Sellafield is not interested in political conplex. IBNFL •Waste

Algae may be capable of extracting add positive ions to the water so uranium from waste water in uranium the negative bicarbonate ions in mills. However the water must be the water will combine with them in slightly acidic for the extraction preference to the·uranium ions; the to work, and uranium mill waste algae will then attract the uranium. water is alkaline. This potential solution for The secret, apparently, is to cleaning up waterways contaminated by uranium, and other heavy metals, has been discovered by a team of scientists working at New Mexico British Nuclear Fuels workers no State University. longer have to die to receive com­ The groop has also discovered pensation for cancers that could that the algae could be used to have been caused by radiation. The recover gold. Adding such chemicals company has agreed to extend its as cyanide and thiourea removes the offers of compensation. gold, but if left in the algae the More than £200 ,000 has so far organisms convert the ions to neut­ been paid out in compensation under ral metal; the research team sug­ a four-year-old scheme; £120,000 gests that this trait may play a was paid to the relatives of a dead part in the formation of natural former worker in the largest single gold deposits. payment to date. New Scientist, 16.1.86 NeW Scientist, 16.1.86 6 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 IIDounreay The Scandanavian governments of A commission could widen the Denmark, Finland, Norway and SWeden remit of the inquiry to include are calling for more information such matters as energy policy and from the British government over safety. Speaking to his motion in the Dounreay proposals. They are the COIIIIlonS, Mr Wallace argued concerned about threats to their that: 'The proposals form part of a fishing interests as well as poll­ joint EUropean collaboration pro­ ution of their coastlines. ject, the terms and inplications of The governments will recon­ which have never been discussed by sider the matter once a Norwegian this house. ' request_ for more information has The motion was not passed, been answered by Britain. '!he Nor­ being rejected by the Government wegians have said that those west because 'the purpose of the inquiry EUropeans who wish to dispose of is to consider the simple question nuclear waste should resite the of whether planning consent should, plant where pollution will affect or should not be given for the proposed developnent'. Sinple? their own coastlines, not those of of which was leaked to Orkney CADE third parey countries. Although rail links ana port last year, were eventually put on facilities do not form part of the Conference show as productions for the inquiry planning application, the inquiry on 31 January. Reporter, Mr Bell, has decided that When objectors first asked for The conference of Peripheral as both are essential to the opera­ these reports they were told by Maritime Regions of the EEC, held tion of Dounreay, he will have to T.D. McRoberts (senior information in Strasbourg in September, passed be 'satisfied that such facilities officer at Dounreay) that 'as they a resolution demanding 'that when are broadly acceptable in local are management reports ••• not for industries linked with chemical or planning terms. ' He has set the the public ••• I cannot accede to nuclear activities are set up along deadline of 28 February for the your request' • coastlines it·is necessary to. en­ UKAEA to produce and justify this However, when the reports were sure that the disposal of waste is evidence. lodged with the Reporter Mr navies, guaranteed satisfactorily and that the UKAEA's inquiry team leader, no polluting waste must be released Ports into the sea. said that it was nonsense to sug­ Under new regulations Dounreay gest that these reports were being is responsible for obtaining con­ Following several 'misunder­ kept secret, and he added: 'What we sent from the River Purification standings' over deadlines set, the haven't done is to issue copies to Board to discharge its daily 900 UKAEA has at last provided a short­ people and groups who have already cubic metres of chemical effluent list of their preferred ports, demonstrated that they can and will into the sea. Rad waste is con­ namely Scrabster and three ports on use such reports to grossly mislead trolled by the Secretary of State the cranarty Firth (Alness, Inver­ the public.' for Scotland. gordon and Nigg) • The UKAEA do not So, who is correct: Mr McRob­ Fears have been expressed that however wish to make any firm com­ erts or Mr navies? Or is there more both nuclear and chemical waste mitment to a specific port; they than one version of these reports, will .effect Ross and Cromarty Dis­ will lead evidence on their general and did Mr McRoberts think that we trict Council's intentions to ex­ requirements for a suitable port had been leaked a different one? ploit the mussel beds in the Dor­ with reference to existing ports Also, it must be said, the noch Firth - not to mention the such as Barrow. Reports eventually released had had expanding fish farming industry. The choice of a particular the building numbers deleted by the port is of vital inportance to the UKAEA Risley Declassification Offi­ ~at National Interest? objectors' case, because Highland cer. Regional Council has stated that This has effectively restric­ The international significance their backing for the Dounreay ted our ability to compare trends of Dounreay is inherent in its pro­ expansion is on the understanding in particular areas of the plant. posed role in the EUropean Fast that a caithness port such as Breeder progranme, Despite this, Scrabster or Wick would be prefer­ Trial claims that the expansion is of able, particularly because of con­ 'national or regional inportance' siderable local opposition in In­ Dounreay's internal security system we.re rejected by the Government vergordon. was said to be 'full of holes' and when Orkney and Shetland Liberal MP Equally inportant is Ross and 'in need of review' during a trial Jim Wallace moved an early day Cromarty District COUncil's vote in December in which a Dounreay motion on 14 Jan 1986 to expand the not to allow Invergordon to be used worker was convicted of stealing terms of reference of the planning as a nuclear port. '!his decision £3,200 worth of equipment from the inquiry by establishing a planning means that they may oppose any plant. inquiry commission. future proposals and formally ob­ Thurso Town Hall is to be ject to any planning applications spruced up for the inquiry with submitted for transport through improved heating, new curtains and Invergordon. double glazing. The old Co-op buil­ Despite the efforts of the ding in Thurso is to became the Reporter, the UKAEA have continued UKAEA/BNFL H.Q. for the inquiry; to avoid the whole issue of trans­ the site was previously designated port. As they say: 'we don't want for much-needed housing. to make a decision about the ports Closed circuit TV is a possi­ until the 1990's. • • who knows bility for the inquiry, if there are what the situation will be then?' not enough ring-side seats, accord­ It is after all only 'hypothetical' ing to the local district council. that the channel tunnel could be But one group who definitely will used! not be getting a look in is the local Play Group, who will have to Health and safety be rehoused for the duration of the inquiry. Suggestions that they could The annual reports of the Health & be acCOIIIOOdated at the old co-op Safety Sub-Committee, the 1982 text have yet to be answered. SCRAM Journal February/March '86 7 Nuclear Law Suit In OCtober last year a Malaysian High Court granted an injunction against the Asian Rare Earth company to stop them dumping highly toxic and radioactive wastes near a village. This report, by Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia) describes this milestone in environ­ mental law. On 15 October 1985 eight residents struction material was not concrete of Kampung Baru Bukit Merah obtained but a mixture used for plastering an injUnction in the Ipoh High court walls. against the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) The Papan residents formed the factory, restraining it from produc­ Papan Residents Action Committee. ing, storing and keeping radioactive They were justifiably concerned for wastes in the vicinity of the vill­ their health and safety and the The residents also claimed that age. The High Court ordered the lives of future generations. the wastes are dangerous in that factory to take immediate steps for Representations to the Ministry internal or external exposure can the removal and proper disposal of of Health and the Ministry of Envi­ cause in the long term, cancer, all radioactive waste, failing which ronment culminated in protests and leukaemia and genetic injury and it may have to close the factory. demonstrations. On June 5 1985, death in humans and animals. despite the protests, the Prime Controversy Minister announced that the govern­ Professor Ichikawa ment would go ahead with the con­ This decision ends a two year struction of the dump site. One of the residents said that controversy which arose when the However on 21 January 1985, it he saw ARE workers dumping heaps of people of Papan learnt in November was announced that 'the government thorium waste into a pond adjoining 1983, that their town had become the has found an alternative site for ARE's factory. unfortunate area chosen for a dump tn their affidavit, the resi­ site for the radioactive waste pro­ dents cited the findings of Prof. ducts of ARE factory. The case is Sadao Ichikawa of Saitama University unique in that it is the first time in Japan, who was invited by the a radioactive waste issue has been Bukit Merah residents to look into brought to court. the problem. He reported that high Six years a ago, ARE built a radiation levels exceeding the $2.7 million factory in Lahat, a 500mrem/yr ICRP (International Comm­ small town 45 kms from Ipoh, MOna­ ission on Radiological Protection) zite, a substance found in tin tail­ dose limit for the general public ings, is processed at the factory to were found at the farm adjacent to produce Yttrium, a valuable element the dumping site and in the yard of used in industry. However the pro­ the sawmill next to the ARE plant. cess produces a radioactive by­ Prof. Ichikawa also pointed out product, thorium hydroxide, as part that, 'all the above findings indi­ of the factory's waste, which has a cate that the temporary thorium half life of billions of years. ~he waste dumping by and the operation thorium waste was to be stored in of the [ARE] plant are obviously specially constructed trenches. the storage the radioactive hazardous to those people who 'live When construction began on the waste'. The new site was situated or work daily around the temporary trenches for storing the waste, the 3. 2 km from Mengletrbu. dumping site and the ARE plant. The Minister of the Environment empha­ The residents were not satis­ present situation also seems hazar­ sised that it would be perfectly fied as the proposed dumpsite was dous for inhabitants living in the safe to store it in the trenches and still potentially threatening. They nearby housing areas if we consider that they would be built according claimed that the ARE factory posed a the long term effects'. to international specifications. further threat to the residents It is therefore encouraging to However SAM (Sahabat Alam Malaysia) nearby. know of the Ipoh High Court's deci­ made a visit to the site and discov­ On 2 February 1985, 8 residents sion to grant the Bukit Merah resi­ ered that the trenches were not in of Bukit Merah, filed a writ of dents an injunction against ARE, accordance with specifications, sev­ summons at the Ipoh High court reg­ restraining it from producing, stor­ eral cracks were seen and the con- istry. On 3 March 1985 they filed ing and keeping radioactive wastes legal papers asking the Ipoh High in the vicinity of the village. court to declare that ARE is not Malaysia's pioneer environmental law entitled to produce and keep the suit is a victory for its citizens. radioactive wastes upon their land But it must not be forgotten and adjoining lands; and to restrain that the citizens of Papan and Bukit ARE from producing, storing and Merah were not consulted as to the keeping the radioactive wastes on dumping of the waste. It is hoped either ARE or other lands. that this case will ensure that the The residents claim that the people of Malaysia will be cdnsulted factory produces a significant in all future decisions that may amount of wastes as a result of have serious repercussions on their processing the monazite. They all­ lives. eged that the wastes were being stored in drums, plastic bags or dunped loosely. The wastes are tho­ rium hydroxide in the form of wet cakes, barium radium sulphate and lead sulphate sludge. 8 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 VDU's & Health With the accelerating introduction of microchip technology The military have shielded their VDU's for years - to protect into the working environment some researchers are becoming the equipment and the data stored in aware of possible health hazards. Following on from his them. The military have however series of articles on radiation and health, Tony Webb now consistently whitewashed any sugges­ tion that non-ionising radiation; examines the ghosts behind the screen. mircowaves, radar, radiosignals, and low frequency transmissions, could Ask any worker who has had the boss necessary. Many of the problems have have any health effects on military dump a Visual Display Unit (VDU) on obvious causes in bad lighting, personnel or the population. (2) the desk in place of the typewriter office layout, furniture design or What have they to hide? and s/he (it's usually a woman) will the way the jobs are structured. The tell you it looks good, it makes you worst health problems are regularly Problems? feel important - working on the reported among those working long computer - it feels good for a hours and doing monotonous repeti­ How is it that a consultant to couple of days, and then it starts tive work. Simply providing adjust­ IBM, having reviewed the available to get to you that maybe you've been able seating, desks, lighting and data from Eastern European as well had. flexibility in work programmes would as western scientists, concluded Firstly, there are usually alleviate many of the symptoms. that health problems from low fre­ fewer workers around than before. A Canadian study showed a quency radiation could not be ruled New technology is after all 'labour dramatic increase in the reporting out. ( 2) saving' and unenployment for some is of problems when workers were expec­ It is clear that there is more the price of this 'progress'. In ted to do more than 4 hours a day or than just money here; even with the addition the remaining workers begin more than one to one and a half millions of VDU's that might need to suffer regular chronic and some­ hours without a break on the VDU. shielding if they admitted a prob­ times acute discomfort, and fre­ Radiation shielding of vou's is lem, vou's emit radiation particu­ quently debilitating pain: equally simple and cheap. A number larly in what are known as the VLF of employers already concede the (very low frequency) and ELF (extra * eyestrain, visual disorienta­ right of workers to transfer to low frequency) bands. The military tion, blurring of vision and col­ other work during pregnancy. propose to begin construction of an ours, and soreness, watering and ELF transmitter in the Glengarry 'grittiness' of the eye; Forest in Scotland (modelled on the * headaches and backaches, pains SEAFARER system in Upper Wisconsin/ in the neck, shoulders, arms, wrists Northern Michigan in the USA) to and hands - sometimes leading to enable communications with TRIDENT acute inflammation of tendons (teno­ submarines lying deep submerged in synovities) and other 'repetitive the oceans. (3) Other low frequency strain' injuries; signals are already used for mili­ * changes of mood, irritability, tary communications. depression, lethary, fatigue; There is in fact a lot of sci­ * stress, high blood pressure, entific evidence for health damage heart disease, indigestion and bowel from such frequencies including: problems; And perhaps most worrying of all: • * changes in blood that are usu­ * an increased risk of abnormal ally associated with stress and pregnancy outcome - miscarriage, heart disease; stillbirth, and birth defects in * reduced ability to perform men­ live born children. In an attempt to establish such tal tasks; common sense controls on the use of * birth abnormalities and brain The visual, muscular and stress the technology a VDU workers Rights damage in animals; hazards are undisputed. The repro­ Campaign was recently launched to * leukaemia and cancer in exposed ductive effects are more controver­ demand legislation that will: children; sial. since adverse outcomes occur * birth defects in children of in 15% of pregnancies anyway it is * Limit work with a VDU to four people exposed.(4) hard to be certain that particular hours within any working day. And cases are examples of increased further, limit the maximum period of As with other aspects of our risk. Nevertheless, too many 'clus- continuous VDU work to one hour to work with trades unions there are ters' of such cases have been repor- be followed by a 15 minute break particular connections between our ted for the possibility to be ig- away from the unit; concerns and workplace health and nored. such studies as have been * Specify design requirements for safety isssues. In this case the done have reinforced the concern. It VDU manufacture, and VDU workstation links between the issues are clear. can no longer be claimed that VDUs design and layout to minimise stress Office workers need to oppose Tri­ are not harmful. Posture, stress and on vision, posture and efficiency; dent and the role of the military in radiation; all associated with VDU * Require compulsory shielding of suppressing research into health work; each is known to be capable of all VDU's to eliminate electromagne- problems created by military commun­ causing such defects. tic radiation emissions; ications as much as CND/Anti-Nuclear * Establish the right of VDU wor­ activists need to demand rights ror Impartial kers to transfer to other work when office workers using new technology. planning to start or add to their This is not just a women's family. (1) References and Reading problem. Men experience all the Fair enough! VDU's are a hazard 1 The VDU Workers Rights Campaign, c/o City physical problems of VDU work. They - why is this important to CND? Centre, 32 Featherstone Street, London ECl. are also more vulnerable to reduced Could it be that the reluctance to 2 The Zapping of America, Paul Brodeur, Norton N.Y. 1977. fertility and long term genetic undertake studies on workers' health 3 New Scientist, 4th July 1985. damage. These are certainly possible and especially the genetic effects 4 Terminal Shock - The Health Hazards of if there are pregnancy problems. of VDU's is related to military VDU's. BOb DeMatteo, NC Press 1985 (AVail­ None of this health damage is developments? able from TUrnaround Distributors UK). SCRAM Journal February/March '86 9 BP & Roxby Downs The announcement on 8 December to go ahead with the Roxby The land is traditionally cared Downs uranium mine in South Australia has angered environ­ for by the Kokotha people who were moved off their land in the 1950's mentalists and the Aboriginal land rights movement. This to make way for the British woomera article, by Sigrid Shayer, identifies the reasons for oppo­ rocket testing range and for the sing the development. testing of British nuclear bombs at Maralinga. The Kokotha have already been affected by the fall out from The Olympic Dam mining project at A$600m (£300m) for the first stage those tests and don't want this mine Roxby Downs in south Australia is a and represents 2,000 construction to add to the radioactive contami­ joint venture between the western and 1,000 permanent jobs in the nation. They are struggling to a­ Mining Corporation (WMC), which owns region(9,000 growing to 30,000 was chieve land rights recognition and 51%, and. BP Australia (49%) and was the expected number when the project compensation for the destruction initially proposed to be the world's was first considered in 1975). BP already caused to their sacred sites largest uranium mine. It is sit­ Australia has spent A$150m on ex­ by the developers. uated 520km north of Adelaide on ploration and development and the An Environmental Impact State­ traditional Aboriginal land. A loop­ South Australia state government is ment presented by the 'joint ventur­ hole in the Australian Labour Gover­ to put up A$50m for infrastructure - ers' (WMC and BP) to the south Aus­ nment's policy of phasing out ura­ roads, water and services, a hos­ tralia state government, and passed nium mining was exploited to achieve pital, a school and other conmunity in June 1983, made only a cursory the necessary support: the uranium facilities - meaning that the tax attempt to locate sites of signifi­ to be extracted is incidental to the payer will have to pay nearly A$13m cance to the Kokotha and an inde­ main purpose of mining the huge per year. It has been suggested that pendent anthropological study has reserves of gold and copper. A$13m spent on other industries in been virtually ignored; only the However, because the world South Australia could create ten recommendation to set up a liaison prices for the minerals are so low times as many jobs. Construction is committee was accepted, and that has the total annual production has been expected to begin early thfs year not yet met. Of the fifty sacred reduced to less than a quarter of with the first copper and uranium sites identified, ten have already the original projection: 1.5m tonnes being produced in 1988. been destroyed: the main development of ore will be mined, conpared with shaft runs through a very important 6.5m tonnes as intially proposed. sacred Sites Desecrated sacred site, and the airstrip is 2,000 tonnes of uranium and 55,000 built on the ancestral burial tonnes of copper will be produced The Roxby Downs development has ground. annually from one million tonnes of created widespread protests over the The current national land copper-uranium ore, and up to 90,000 past three years from the peace, rights legislation, still under dis­ ounces of gold will be produced from women's, land rights and environmen­ cussion, has removed the power from 500,000 tonnes of ore. tal movements as well as from the Aboriginal communities to veto mi­ The project will cost up to churches and the trade unions. ning claims on their land, due to pressure from the mining lobby: a WMC director has publicly stated that land rights are 'anti develop­ ment'. Following an occupation of a MATT-BLACK ENAMEL sacred area called Cane Grass SWamp FINISH. -- 4.0KW to prevent its destruction to make way for a road to the mine, the MULTI-FUEL STOVE Kokotha have demanded compensation CAN BE FITTED WITH from WMC/BP for sites already des­ troyed so that they can employ their BOILER FOR own anthropologists and lawyers to DOMESTIC HOT WATER sort out their land rights. BURNS ALL FUELS Ecological Threat INCLUDING HOUSE­ HOLD COAL, HAS The threat to the ecology of the region is enormous. The plan is SHAKER, GRATE OP­ to pump 33 million litres of water ERATED WITH STOVE per day to the mine from the Great Artesian Basin, which threatens to CLOSED TOP OR REAR deplete water supplies to farms and FLUG OUTLET. communities around the edges of central Australia and to completely destroy unique oases sacred to Abor­ iginal tribes and of great concern to ecologists. One fear is the hazard caused by the 'tailings' - a slurry of water and pulverised rock left over SQUIRREL STOVE 1410 after extraction of the mineral - as they lie in a huge dam. The dam will PRICES, INCLUDING VAT: STOVE £240. BOILER MODEL £304. cover an area up to four square STOVE WITH LONG LEGS ILLUSTRATED £15.00 EXTRA. kilometres and will be divided into £60.00 PER INSTALLED KILOWATT! four sections. water will be evapor­ FOREST FIRE ated from each section in turn to create a dry layer onto which more 50 ST MARYS ST. EDINBURGH. 031-556-9812. slurry can be poured. In 1971 a THE BEST OF SAFE AND RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY breach in the tailings dam at the Rum Jungle mine rendered uninhabit-

10 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 able an area of lOO square kilo­ metres in Northern Territory and the tax payer had to finance a A$16m clean up operation when the owner CRA, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Zinc, disclaimed responsibility. Doubtful Econorrdcs One of the main arguments a­ gainst the Roxby project is the world glut of uranium and the low prices of copper and gold (compared with when the reserves were first discovered) The current spot market price for uranium is US$16 per pound compared with the $45 price in 1978. , This drop in price is a result of ' the cuts in the nuclear programmes in North America and EUrope in the face of weak electricity demand, and the dumping of surplus uranium oxide on the market. Markets for the Roxby uranium have still not been found despite a visit to Japan last year by the South Australia premier and a WMC director to attempt to secure a contract. The Australian Campaign Against Nuclear Energy is concerned that France, with whom there is supposed to be a uranium export ban, is being approached. BP Australia was brought into the Roxby project in 1979, when the company was cash-rich and hungry for diversification, when it became clear that the development costs of the mine would be more than the total book value of WMC. BP were to cover the cost of the preconstruc­ tion work and fund their own A$1,600m share of the development as well as guarantee borrowing by WMC. BP is 31% owned by the British gov­ ernment and 20% owned by the Bank of England. TO show support for the Kokotha people a 'Boycott BP' campaign is underway. Boycott BP petrol stations in this country and tell the garage proprietor of your reasons; write to BP opposing their involvement in the Roxby Downs development (address below); lobby your local authority to disinvest from BP; and write to the addresses below for more infor­ mation and to offer support.

BP, Britannic House, Moor Lane, LOndon EC2. The Manager, Government and PUblic Affairs, BP AUstralia Ltd, Mel­ bourne, Victoria, AUstralia. <:anpaign Against Nuclear Energy 1 4th floor, 13 Hindley Street, Adelaide, South AUstralia 5000. Kokotha Peoples Committee, c/o Betty Dohnt, 11 Anderson crescent, POrt Augusta, South Australia. Nuclear Free & Independent Pacific support, 82 Colston Street, Bristol l. BOYCOTT BP: Boycott BP campaign, The Green Par­ ty, 36/38 Clapham Road, LOndon SW9.

SCRAM Journal February/March '86 11 A-Tests: Britain Guilty At the end of last year the Australian Royal commission diological Protection (ICRP) which published its Report into British Nuclear Tests in Aus­ assumed a threshold dose below which no damage results. In the light of tralia. The Commission heard evidence from scientists and today's knowledge these measures ex-service personnel. Paul Draper has read the Report and must be seen as inadequate. The explains some of the background and describes the Commiss­ Commission noted, however, that ion's recommendations. there were departures from even these safeguards. On 3 October 1952 Britain detonated In practice the radiation pro­ her first nuclear weapon on the tection standards affected two Monte Bello Islands off the south groups of people: Aborigines and coast of Australia. This marked the service personnel. beginning of a 12 year period of The Aborigines traditionally nuclear testing by Britain in Aus­ roam the deserts and hence their tralia following refusal by the lifestyle made them a 'critical' American government to allow the use group which warranted special atten­ of their Nevada test site. Australia tion in radiological terms. Until played a secondary role in the tests 1967 the Aborigines were not enti­ but received no benefits and many tled to vote or even to be consi­ costs in terms of radioactive con­ dered in the census and their home­ tamination. lands were taken. The attitude to In 1984 the Australia govern­ the Aborigines during the tests was ment convened a Royal Commission to summed up by the Commission: look into the effects of the British nuclear tests. The Commission wa~ 'overall, the attempts to en­ chaired by Justice McClelland and sure Aboriginal safety ••. demon­ included lawyers acting for the strate ignorance, incompetence Aborigines, the Nuclear Veterans and and eynicism on the part of the British and Australian govern­ Much of the information for the those responsible for that ments. The Commission's terms of Commission was forthcoming only af­ safety. The inescapable conclu­ reference were to assess whether ter criticisms of British secrecy by sion is that if Aborigines were adequate safety measures were taken Justice McClelland. This information not injured or killed as a before, during and after the tests enabled a full and detailed inquiry result of the explosions, this to protect the Australian land and into the tests with documentary was a matter of luck rather people. EVidence was heard from evidence being used to support or than adequate organisation, service personnel and scientists. refute verbal testimony. management and resources allo­ The Commission's Report con­ cated to ensuring safety. sidered the siting of the tests, Radiological Protection criteria for safe testing, radiolog­ Aborigines were exposed to fallout ical protection and the clean-up of The radiation monitoring and following the Totem 1 test in the the sites. The Report contains 201 health factors relied on data from form of a 'black mist' which made conclusions and 7 recommendations. the International Commission on Ra- many of them sick. Allegations of dead Aborigines in the bomb crater could not be supported by the docu­ NORTHERN TERRITORY QUEENSlAND ments presented to the Commission. I The service personnel received FINKE I better radiological protection, but "'------~--- ______}______, some contamination still occurred. During an operation to recover a sunken landing craft at Monte Bello I I in 1952 naval divers swallowed ra­ MT. LINDSAY .A; I dioactive water and HMAS Koala was I I contaminated. The rush to decontam­ I inate the ship, the Commission felt, SOUTH AUSTRALIA demonstrated the standard and con­ I cern over radiological protection. WESTERN I Aircrew, however, did not re­ AUSTRALIA' ceive as much attention; during I monitoring flights into the fallout clouds they did not wear radiation suits or monitors. From examination FORREST I of fallout data the aircrews' dose could be extrapolated to be within safety limits but at the time this would not have been known. Also, the use of low flying aircraft to mon­ I itor ground contamination was not an effective method and underestimated the contamination. Ma.p of S.A~s~rali,. showing Mara\inga and Roxbq t>owns I Safe Testing Criteria 50 0 50 100 150 ...... _.==c I I The criteria for safe testing Statute Miles included factors such as weather conditions and fallout levels. If any of the criteria were invalidated then the tests should not have been

12 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 carried out. The Commission's fin­ dings suggest that, in the majority of instances, the criteria were invalidated. During the Buffalo trials rain was predicted within a zone and so the test should have been stopped; it was not and the rain fell nearer than predicted. At another explosion in the same series minor contamination of Maralinga village resulted. This failure to fulfil the safe testing criteria, demonstrated by contamination of the mainland and the disregard for the Aborigines, led the commission to conclude that the Monte Bello Islands should never have been used as a site, particu­ larly because the prevailing weather conditions limited the scope for ~l 1 safe testing. The other test sites, fC1t 111 at Maralinga and Emu Fields, were situated in the desert areas of South Australia. Reconmendations • The Commission feels that the The d("$h;bul-i<>tt ot fatlol.\t ova.c Austndia. contamination of Australia by Bri­ ~m the. &uffalo j_ h!st:. The c.ovt\-t>urs sft.ot!' (> tish nuclear testing has resulted in 1-ke.. -bW amo'-t"t- of radioadivi tt, ~c:l C"2"7 an excess of cancers, but they can­ -n.e c\ots are fa..Uol.\l- '5tanons. not quantify the number. This con­ \J/ tamination is still. present and so will continue to cause cancers and other detrimental health effects. The Commission recommends that up the range at Maralinga in 1967, ment. The Monte Bello Islands should the test sites should be returned to but the Commission feels that this be sign-posted to warn of the dan­ a state whereby the Aborig1nes can was a political move conducted on ger. have unrestricted access. Maralinga wrong assumptions and may have made The Royal Commission Report is a traditional homeland which was the eventual clean up more diffi­ demonstrates the dangers of nuclear recently returned to the Aborigines, cult. testing to those involved and the but it is still contaminated. The One of the major recommenda­ pollution threat to the environment. site was contaminated with plutonium tions is for compensation to be paid Research at other test sites has as a ditect result of the so called to victims of the tests, both also demonstrated this, with excess minor trials. through ill health and loss of land, cancers observed. The need for a The minor tr1als involved bur­ and a national register should be Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is ning materials contaminated with set up. A Commission should oversee supported, yet again, by this Report radionuclides but no actual detona­ the clean up operation and it should on both environmental and health tions. An. attempt was made to clean be paid for by the British govern- terms.

NPT .-No Peace Tomorrow

Following our series, NPT - No Peace Tomorrow, in prepara­ weapons before an arbitrary date in tion for the 3rd Review Conference of the Nuclear Non­ 1967. The Treaty also includes, as an incentive to non-nuclear weapon Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Jos Gallacher analyses the states (NNWS) a promise to 'facili­ surpr1s1ng outcome of the Conference itself. Despite the tate' nuclear trade (under Article superpowers easy ride at the NPT Review doubts remain and IV) and to negotiate an early end to the problem of proliferation has not gone away. the arms race and nuclear disarma­ ment (under Article VI). The failure From the 27th Augus~ 1985 to the the Conference did not degenerate of NWS to deliver on Articles IV and early hours of 21st September dele­ into a slanging match between the VI had caused the failure of past _gates from 81 states party to the nuclear haves and have-nots nor into review conferences and was expected NPI' met in Geneva to review the an East-west squabble. Instead of to do so again. However, from its operation of the Treaty. Also in the predicted disaster the confer­ opening Plenary session onwards, the attendance were observers from non­ ence became something of a non-event conference worked towards producing party states and delegations from as most delegates seemed concerned a consensus Final Declaration. 'non-governmental organisations' - to achieve a consensus in support of including Greenpeace, said to have preserving the Treaty. Article IV: Nuclear Power had the 4th largest delegation in The NPT seeks to restrict the Geneva. number of nuclear weapons states The first surprise of the Con­ Contrary to all expectations (NWS) to the five which had tested ference was the absence of conflict SCRAM Journal February/March '86 13 over nuclear trade. In the past Garcia Robles, who had led the non can view was recorded and the Soviet developing countries have seen Ar­ aligned states in their complaints Union's offers to negotiate CTBT ticle IV as a promise of nuclear­ at the previous Reviews, developed were noted. industrial development leading to clever tactics to extract maximum This compromise satisfied Gar­ high-tech prosperity. This percep­ concessions from the NWS in the cia Robles but not Greenpeace who tion no longer exists and the inter­ Final Declaration. At the opening lobbied hard to have the resolution national anti-nuclear movement must session he threatened that unless he on CI'BT put to a vote. Greenpeace take some of the credit for exposing was satisfied with the Declaration were outmanouvered, partly by deft the health, environmental and econo­ on Article VI he would move three procedural footwork and partly be­ mic disadvantages of nuclear power. resolutions - one calling for a cause over forty non aligned States Where nuclear aid persists it Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty had not sent delgations, thus redu­ is mostly in the form of low cost (CTBT), one on a nuclear Freeze and cing their voting strength. projects utilising isotopes for in­ one on a moratorium on tests. dustrial, agricultural or medical Thus Britain and the United other Issues purposes. States faced the prospect that if a other states supported the Fi­ Final Declaration was not agreed nal Declaration as a means of promo­ that they would be the only coun­ ting their own particular issues. tries voting against the resolu­ The threats to the non-proliferation One useful development was the tions. regime by the nuclear capabilities insistence of the developing coun­ Much of the Declaration was of Israel and South Africa are re­ tries that nuclear exports should easily agreed~ the only sticking corded in the Declaration. Pacific only be permitted to countries which point was the CTBT, possibly as a states used the Conference to pro­ have accepted 'safeguards' similar mote international support for their to NPT safeguards - known as 'de Nuclear Free zone. Israel is (indi­ jure full scope safeguards' - thus rectly) condemned for its attack on banning exports to the main prolif­ an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981. eration risk countries: Argentina, Thus the African, Middle Eas­ Brazil, India, Israel, Pakistan and tern and Pacific delegations all had south Africa. The nuclear exporters, a vested interest in agreeing a however, concentrated on the diffi­ Final Declaration. culties this would impose on trade Just as the conference was with Spain, which no-one suspects of drawing to a cosy conclusion a new nuclear weapons ambitions. and unexpected issue broke. Iran As a compromise the Final Dec­ insisted on criticism of Iraq for laration merely urges exporters to its alleged attacks on Iranian nu­ seek full scope safeguards. Never­ clear facilities. This sudden threat theless, there is an opportunity to the whole enterprise was only here for the anti-nuclear movement settled after the large and intimi­ to demand that exporter countries dating figure of the Australian accept this principle. Ambassador had persuaded the recal­ result of the work of the peace citrant delegates simply to attach Article VI: Disarmament movement and especially Greenpeace statements of their own to the Final on the issue. The non-aligned coun­ Declartion. The lack of progress on Article tries wanted CTBT negotiations to VI was overshadowed at the Review by resume this year. The US and Britain Conclusions the impending summit meeting and the argued that deep reductions in nu­ hope of a new beginning in arms clear stockpiles took a higher pri­ '!he conference can be seen to control. The Soviet Union refused ority. represent a shift in the politics of the opportunity to isolate the Uni~ Compromise language for the the NPT. In the first 10 years the ted States (with only Britain for Final Declaration was agreed in Treaty belonged to the NWS. It legi­ conpany) as an opponent of the which the Conference 'except for timised their nuclear arsenals with­ freeze and a test ban. certain states' called for immediate out affecting any serious economic veteran Mexican ambassador, negotiations~ the British and Ameri- or security interest. In 1980, when the 2nd Review Conference collapsed Extracts from the Final Declaration in disarray, the NNWS demonstrated that they had less need of the NPT On CI'BT: than did the NWS. 'The Conference except for certain States. calls on the nu- In 1985 the NNWS made the Trea­ clear weapons states to resume trilateral negotiations in 1986 ... ty their own. It is now an instru­ ment they can use to put pressure on On civil-military links: developed countries and NWS to nego­ 'the Conference. . . recommends .•• consideration of separation tiate disarmament, to prevent nu­ of the civil and military facilities in the nuclear weapon States.' clear trade with Israel and South Africa and to respect Nuclear Free On Israel, South Africa and Namibia: zones. The Final Declaration can be 'The Conference noted the calls on all States for the total and used in this pressure. complete prohibition of the transfer of all nuclear facilities resources Against this optimistic assess­ or devices to South Africa or Israel and to stop all exploitation of ment it must be said that the com­ Namibian Uranium, natural or enriched, until the attainment of Namibian promise language of the Declaration Independence. ' weakens the force of its demands. some policies are 'urged', others On Nuclear-Weapon Free zones: merely noted and that on CTBT con­ ' ••. the nuclear weapon states are invited to assist the efforts tains explicit exceptions. of States to create nuclear weapon free zones and to enter into binding Finally, while the Treaty has undertakings to respect strictly the status of such a zone. • • ' emerged from the Review stronger than before, the biggest threat of On full scope safeguards: nuclear proliferation comes from 'The conference further urges all States. specifically as a countries who continue to refuse to necessary basis for the transfer of relevant nuclear supplies to NNWS to sign the Treaty. Should one of them take effective steps towards achieving such a ccmnitment to non-prolifera­ test a nuclear weapon, would the tion and acceptance of such safeguards by those States.' Treaty survive? 14 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 The Inspector Calls

The Int.ernational Atomic Energy Agency (!AEA) is the UN' s to check proliferation results in attempt to inhibit the use of nuclear technology for conplacency~ they feel that safe­ guarded material is therefore harm­ military ends. Here Rosie Bell examines a new book which less material. looks at the Nuclear Watchdog and checks its teeth. It is easy to imaqine in a conflict a state refusing access to When the IAEA Inspector calls at a safeguards and withdraw them when a inspectors to check the potential reactor he checks that the records country misbehaved. However the nu­ for big anti personnel devices. Few of nuclear fuel used tally with the clear industry has developed and countries actually plan atrocities reports that the operator has sent uranium has become cOI'IIIlOn. in wartime: however, they do occur, to the Agency. He counts the number The Agency still helps develop­ even with limited means. In time of of fuel assemblies and checks their ing countries with softer nuclear war a country is not likely to re­ identity numbers. He ensures that techniques but its chief work is ject the sophisticated material for the spent fuel assemblies aren't operating nuclear safeguards. While labour-saving massacres if it is on dummies using a 'Night Vision ne­ cormtercial interests took over nu­ hand, whatever their present will. vice· through which he can see the clear supplies, the Nuclear Non­ However, the Agency is by no CherenkQV glow, a bluish light e­ Proliferation Treaty and the Treaty means a waste of time. It is like A. mitted by irradiated fuel. for the Prohibition of NUclear Wea­ J. p. Taylor 's good diplomat who pons in Latin America (Treaty of Tlatelolco) were signed, by which the parties undertook to place their nuclear aclivities under surveill­ ance by the Agency. Indeed, '•inter• national nuclear safeguards• have come to mean an arrangement under which the ••• IAEA verifies a pledge by a state that it will not use its nuclear activities to make a nuclear weapon or any other kind of nuclear explosive'. Larger plants are more often inspected by the IAEA since they produce more material, yet the plants that are bringing countries over the nuclear weapons threshold are small, eg the pilot reprocessing He runs through the films from plants in India, Israel and Pakistan 'cannot make two countries agree if surveillance cameras, positioned and the small enrichment plant in they do not want to agree, but he outside the reactor core and the South Africa. The Agency cannot kick can make their agreement easier if spent fuel bay, to check that they in the door and demand to see the they want to agree.· It is a young have not been opened at unauthorised plants~ they have to be invited, and organisation, underfinanced for re­ times. If there is a seal aJ:Plied to are sometimes in the ridiculous searching and developing safeguard the core he will ensure that it is position of knowing of a nuclear measures, and it is also a totally intact. plant unofficially, but being unable new body in one important respect. The Inspector is not a detec­ to enforce inspections. The inspector cannot be a native of tive looking for clues to track down the country whose reactor he is a criminal~ he is an auditor look­ Danger inspecting, and so for the first ing for discrepancies to report back time states are accepting foreigners to the IAEA which then investigates Nor can they prevent a state to see that they have carried out to find their cause. So far, no from building an unsafeguarded rep­ their commitments to a treaty. State has been caught diverting lica of a safeguarded plant or pre­ The rhetoric about peace has ·significant· amounts of material. vent governments from building up come down to specific checks on (Significant amounts are Skg of stockpiles of.plutonium. Suggestions refraining from doing specific plutonium, 25kg of uranium-235, con­ for an international plutonium depot things, and to be seen to be not tained in uranium enriched to 20% or are unlikely to come to anything. A doing them. It has been said that if more, or 8kg of uranium-233.) country can pile up the explosives there were controls against the under safeguards and.then withdraw cold war's vertical proliferation, Safeguards at any time. Iraq's reactor, Tamuz which is large on rhetoric and small 2, was under the IAEA's surveill­ on specifics; the controls would be If material had been diverted, ance, but Israel gave as one argu­ more feasible on fissile material the Agency would have to rely on the ment for bombing it that Iraq would rather than delivery systems. state correcting itself out of em­ later violate the agreement. So this dull bureaucracy, with barrassment pr pressure from other Another danger is that people's its remains of national prejudices states. The Agency deters those who confidence in the Agency's ability may be a sign that there are poss­ might misuse nuclear material rather ible ways of making international than punishing those who have. co-operation against the supra­ The Agency was set up in the national nuclear menace. 'Atoms for Peace· era of the fifties 'to seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to References peace, health and prosperity throug­ hout the world' and to prevent this All the information in this article help being turned to military ends. has been culled from the excellent At that time nuclear technol­ Safeguarding the Atom: A Critical ogy and materials were scarce and Appraisal by oavid Fischer and Paul the Agency could use its supplies as Szasz, ed. Jozef Goldblat. Pub by a lever to make countries accept Sipri, £16.00

SCRAM Journal February/March '86 15 Charter for Energy Efficiency

An exciting new initiative aimed at tackling the misery of seen within shopping precincts, at cold homes and massive fuel bills has been launched by a ideal home exhibitions and agri­ cultural shows.' While for children consortium of local authorities, voluntary organisations 'there will be colouring books, and trade unions. susie Parsons, Development Manager for balloons, games and even touring the LOndon Energy and Employment Network and a speaker at theatre groups'. There is nothing the launch of the Charter for Energy Efficiency, writes wrong with an attempt to make us all more energy efficiency conscious, about the Charter and plans to take it forward. but not everyone has the financial resources to invest in better heat­ The need for action ing, better insulation and better draughtproofing. To someone living Every winter, thousands of house­ on a low income in a home with non­ holds go cold, largely because of existent or inefficient and expen­ consistent under-investment in en­ sive heating the Government's mess­ suring that Britain is effectively age brings cold comfort. heated and well-insulated. Nation­ ally, the Department of the Environ­ Government Policy ment estimates that at least £3000 million needs spending to improve It is particularly ironic that the heating conditions of our homes~ a Government which is telling people Yet there is no commitment from to make their homes energy efficient Government to secure this level of is, at the same time, introducing or resources to tackle the effective proposing measures which make it thermal upgrading of the nation's even less likely that low-income housing stock. Little wonder that, consumers will be able to do so. in the Duke of Edinburgh's Inquiry Three examples of such measures are into British Housing, it was said particularly striking. that condensation and inadequate. A cut in the home insulation heating systems 'can make life a grants scheme of £4.5 million at the misery'. start of Energy Efficiency Year has Local authorities have demon­ recently been announced. Taken to­ strated that, given the resources, gether with the consistent under­ they can deal with the problems of promotion of home insulation grants, cold homes. The Association of Met­ such action is unlikely to meet the ropolitan Authorities found: recommendation of the Select Commit­ tee on Energy that: • ••. not only do local author­ ities already have considerable the Homes Insulation expertise in undertaking work Scheme should now be broadened to secure an energy efficient tenants. What is lacking are to allow the installation of housing stock, but also a di­ the resources and national sup­ cost effective insulation not rect interest in developing port to get on with the job.' at present covered by the this area of work in order to (An Energy Policy for Housing, Scheme and to permit a higher remedy many of the severe hou­ April 1985) . maximum level of grant - though sing problems faced by their this should be concentrated The difficulties faced by local authorities are recognised by the· Select Committee on Energy: 'In the council and housing association component of the domestic energy market, re­ strictions on public expendi­ ture have for some time been a substantial restraint upon eco­ nomic and desirable investments in improved energy efficiency.' (Eighth Report, October 1985). Energy Efficieny Year Impetus is given to the Charter for Energy Efficiency by a wide­ spread recognition that the Govern­ ment's plans for Energy Efficiency Year are aimed largely at industrial and commercial energy users. Plans for the domestic sector are based on exhortations to individual househol­ ders to insulate and draughtproof their homes, jollied along by the odd competition or two. 'Touring Government ~ve1h ... caravans', enthuses the Monergy'86 Information Pack, 'will visit towns the Government taketh awa~ and cities - from Penzance to Peter­ head. These mobile units will be 16 sCRAM Journal February/March '86 for the operation of a national home energy audit programme geared to meeting the real heating needs of consumers. * New financial initiatives geared to mobilising further resour­ ces to tackle the problems faced by lower income households living in thermally inefficient and hard to heat homes. Taking the Charter forward The sponsors of the Charter intend to make sure that its aims are translated into practical ac­ tion. TO this end a Steering Group is being set up to co-ordinate ac­ tivities around the country. These will include: * regional meetings, * lobbying of MP's, * gaining grassroots support for the Charter, * monitoring the Government's per­ formance in the domestic sector IL, f: ~ b9> • during Energy Efficiency Year. more selectively on lower­ In London, plans have already that similar developments, supported income homes. • been made to launch the London Ener­ by local authorities, trade unions, gy Action Plan in April 1986. This tenants associations and voluntary Secondly, proposals within the is the London Energy and Employment and community organisations, will Government Review of SOcial Security Network· s ( LEEN) contribution to take place in other areas of the to abolish single payments, inclu­ Energy Efficieny Year. LEEN ( fea­ country during 1986. SUch regional ding single payments for draught­ tured in SCRAM Oct/Nov 85) is an activity will not only have practi­ proofing, would remove the only organisation supported by the Grea­ cal spin-offs (after just six months method of paying for draughtproofing ter London Enterprise Board to work the Hackney Heating Advice open to low-income households within create empl~nt through the promo­ Project run by LEEN for the London the private rented and owner­ tion of energy efficiency. LEEN Borough of Hackney brought in more occupied sectors. intends to build on its practical than £100,000 over the next eighteen Thirdly, a Green Paper on Home and policy work with London local months in heating benefits to local Improvements not only exhibits a authorities to set out an energy residents) it will also put pressure complete lack of attention to ther-. efficiency policy for London. on the Government to take effective mal insulation and adequate heatin~ The Charter's sponsors believe measures to improve thermal comfort, at reasonable cost but actually save energy and create jobs. proposes the lowering of the stan­ Speaking at the launch of the dard of fitness for human habitation Charter in Birmingham in November in respect of dampness. 1985, Labour Party spokesman Alex Eadie said: What the Charter demands 'TOmOrrow Peter Walker will be here in Birmingham to launch The Charter for Energy Effi­ his 'Monergy 86 • canpaign. I ciency sets out a five point pro­ know that many people welcome gramme to achieve an effective ini­ this initiative -however, we tiative designed to boost the energy must recognise that unless his efficiency of the nation's homes. It government colleagues actually calls for: start investing in Britain's housing stock then his campaign * A national commitment to boost­ will fail to have any impact ing investment in the nation's hous­ whatsoever on vast numbers of ing stock - with priority for homes homes - particularly where known to be hard to heat and prone people are too poor to respond to danpness. to the rhetoric of 'Monergy'. Norman Fowler's Social Security * POsitive action to secure the Reviews themselves threaten the rapid development of energy effi- continued viability of the 200 cient technologies such as Combined local insulation projects spon­ Heat and Power. sored by many community agen­ cies.· * A vigorous partnership with local government to spearhead the For a copy of the Charter con­ nation's drive for energy efficient tact Alan Sinclair at the Glasgow homes. Office, Unit 1/1, 8 Elliot Place, Finnieston, Glasgow G3 8EP, Tel: 041 * Practical and positive support 248 3993. SCRAM Journal February/March '86 17 Scotlands Housing Crisis Scottish Councils need to invest about £700m each year for Regular House Condition surveys are carried out in England, Wales the next ten years to improve their housing stock; the and Northern Ireland but the govern­ Government is allowing Councils only £280m this year. ment has refused to perform a simi­ Steve Martin reviews the campaign by the Convention of lar survey in Scotland despite the evidence presently available which Scottish Local Authorities (OOSLA) to press for increased suggests that the amount of dis­ investment. repair in Scotland is even worse than the alarmingly high level in Scottish local authorities are com­ mostly through borrowing and, in­ the rest of the UK. COSLA Believes mitted both to improving their exis­ creasingly, through council house that the Government has refused the ting housing stock and continuing to sales. This year Scottish Councils Survey because it is afraid that it build for the future. In doing so will have to pay nearly £340m in will prove that spending limits are they are aware that. the 5 million interest ~harges, as well as £76m of hopelessly inadequate to deal with people living in Scotland deserve their existing loans. Most of the the needs of Scotland's houses. Councils' housing income comes from rents, with central Government pro­ viding the Housing Support Grant (HSG). The HSG is the only government subsidy available to council housing and was first introduced to make up the difference between what a coun­ cil needed to spend and what it could afford to spend. This Govern­ ment's commitment to public spending cuts has led to a reduction in HSG and means that tenants are expected to meet more of their housing costs through higher rents. Since 1979 homes which are in good repair and Scottish public expenditure on hou­ modernised to present standards. sing has been cut by half. A major area of concern is There is a shortage of adequate The Crisis dampness; 314,000 council houses housing in Scotland; one in seven suffer from dampness and condensa­ households is overcrowded. The coun­ Government policies are storing tion and a further 50,000 are in cil waiting lists currently include up worse problems for the future; need of major or structural repairs. 120,000 families, and 15,000 fami­ repairs get more expensive if they In all, over 90% of Scottish public lies a year apply for accommodation. are left and houses are getting sector houses are in need of some Moreover, over 11,000 homes suitable older, so the backlog increases each improvements. for the disabled and 57,000 shel­ year. Lack of investment in housing These improvements should take tered and amenity houses ·for the now will create new slums in years the form of providing roof and wall elderly are urgently needed. to come. insulation and replacing old, inef­ The COSLA campaign calls on the ficient and expensive heating sys­ Houses and Jobs Government to: tems to make the homes warmer and Urgently commission a Scottish cheaper to heat; removing asbestos It has been estimated that * which is a danger to health; impro­ House Conditions Survey to ass­ every Elm invested in building and ess Scotland's housing improve­ ving open spaces in estates to pro­ improving houses creates 110 jobs. vide play areas, landscaping etc; ments costs; The difference between the £700m on Allow Scottish councils to in­ and carrying out the routine repairs council houses and £180m on grants * and maintenance. crease their housing investment To carry out these improvements etc which the Councils need to spend to a minimum of £880m a year, the Councils have calculated that and the total Government allowance and provide the necessary they need to invest £700m each year of £385m - £495m - could have grants; and for at least the next ten years. The created nearly 55,000 jobs this year * Guarantee this level of expen­ Government's allocation of only alone, and all this when there are diture so that the councils can £280m will not even allow the Coun­ over 350,000 unemployed in Scotland. programme their work. cils to keep all their houses wind and watertight. COSLA is pressing The Private Housing Sector The Campaign is financially suppor­ the Government to act now to in­ ted by 41 City, District and Island Many of Scotland's worst hou­ councils. crease spending limits for council sing conditions are to be found in the private sector. Many private houses are owned by elderly owner­ occupiers who are unable to afford much-needed improvements on their small pensions; others are rented out, often to people who have par­ ticular dificulties obtaining suit­ able accommodation. At least 50,000 older houses still lack Standard Amenities: hot and cold water supply to a sink, housing before the situation becomes a wash hand basin, a bath or shower This article was drawn from the 'soot­ any worse. and a toilet. The Councils have a land's Housing Crisis' leaflet produced by legal responsibility to ensure that COSLA. The leaflet and further information Council housing - who pays? houses meet at least a minimum stan­ is available from sally Wainwright, 'scat­ dard which takes no account of the land's Housing Crisis', OOSLA Housing Cam­ general state of repair of the buil­ paign, Freepost, Edinburgh EH3 OEE. Te1: The Councils must raise the 031 225 1626. money to spend on housing each year, ding. 18 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 11Saving reece ATNews- During 1984/5 the Victorian State Peter Walker, the Energy Secretary, 'Many important aspects of energy Government of Australia spent signed a memorandum of understan­ ·saving are still not.covered by the A$12.5m on programmes of assistance ding on energy cooperation between Building Regulations, including to meet the energy needs of low the UK and Greece on 3 February. ventilation, solar gains, lighting, income people. The Australians call The two countries have agreed to boiler efficiency and domestic hea­ this 'the human face of energy 'promote and develop collaboration ting controls. our European part­ planning'. between energy organisations and to ners, on the other hand, ensure The schemes include a winter encourage trade in energy technol­ much better energy standards in energy concession which reduces ogies'. buildings, particularly by introdu­ energy bills by 20% for pensioners Areas of cooperation are: cing approval or labelling schemes. and claimants; energy relief grants This was the message delivered to provide debt relief in special * energy efficiency including to a conference in Edinburgh re­ circumstances; and a free home CHP, steam utilisation heat cently by Neil Millbank, the head energy advisory service which can recovery and electronic energy of environmental physics at the recommend expenditure of up to management; Building Research Establishment. Mr A$250 for improvements. Substantial * renewablessuch as solar,wind, Millank said, 'If we are to be reductions in the number of discon­ biomass and geothermal; serious about our national energy nections have been achieved. * hydrocarbons involving explor­ efficiency objectives, our Building Energy Manager, February 1986 ation, development and produc­ Regulatons have to go beyond the tion both on shore and off­ simplistic approach of looking only shore, and manufactured gas; at u-values., * coal mining, safety, prepar­ There is now a major review of IICHP ation and gasification; the Regulations being undertaken in * combustion technologies based England and Scotland in order to It has taken the EEC less than a on oil, coal, and waste mate­ alter the conservation of fuel and year to do what UK governments have rials ; power aspects of the requirement been thinking about for 15 years: * hydroelectric systems covering for new buildings. allocate substantial funds for a technology, economics and en­ However, Humphrey Sharp, the combined heat and power system vironmental aspects. Senior Scottish Office architect, using waste as a fuel. And the felt that the main criteria for recipient project is corby in Nor­ Exchanges of information and change must be consideration of the thampton. Construction should begin experts may take place as well as add-on cost of new measures, the this year and the power station is visits by specialised delegations difficulties of enforcement and the expected to start operating in on energy matters. Joint research, general desire not to add to the 1989. development, investment, manufactu­ problems for the building industry. The East Midlands Electricity ring and production projects may be Energy Manager, February 1986 · Board (EMEB), part of the consor­ undertaken and conferences on sub­ tium which also includes Corby jects of mutual interest may also District Council and GEC Energy be organised. Systems, is reported to be deligh­ All sounds very encouraging •Solar ted at the EEC decision to give except for two things: very little Puerto Rico is to get a solar power nearly £14m for the scheme. 'we investment is being ploughed into station. The lOOkW project will believe this will mean lower hea­ the UK's own 'alternatives' R&D, supply electricity to the grid near .ting costs for Corby industry', and the memorandum also includes the island's southern coast town of said Philip Champ, the EMEB's NW nuclear cooperation cynically hid­ Juana Diaz. The station will be group Manager. den in the DoEn press release in supplied by Solarex Corporation of The station will generate 25MW the section on combustion technolo­ Maryland and comprises 2106 photo­ of electricity for the grid and up gies. voltaic modules each with a guaran­ to 50MW of low-cost heat for nearby teed minimum power output of 46W. factories, commercial premises and The Puerto Rico Government foresees civic buildings by burning 400,000 the project as a demonstration of tonnes of municipal waste every photovoltaics for potential inves- year. tors. Building Services & Warmer BUlletin, Dec 85 Environmental Engineer, Jan 1986 Baaah! (sick) A cogeneration and heat recovery An estimated 10% of New Zealand's cane juice and molasses. Brazil system in Orangeville, Ontario is growing demand for diesel oil could already uses alternative fuels de­ expected to save the town at least be met by the use of surplus tallow rived from sugar. $70,000 in electricity and heating from lamb carcasses; each lamb Energy Malllage!r costs in its first year of opera­ could provide 2.25 litres of the tion. The heat recovery process fuel. could earn the town about $10,000 a The scheme has been developed year from the sale of heat. by Perkins, a UK company and in­ The system takes advantage of volves processing the tallow into the town's sewage treatment works methy! ester anq blending it with and uses the methane to generate autodiesel. Field trials, involving both thermal and electrical energy 40 trucks and a boat, have produced to heat and light the treatment promising results so far but the plant. Excess energy is used to large scale introduction of this heat a nearby school. fuel will only go ahead if it is The total cost of the system economically sound; New Zealand is is $320,000 and is part of a $5m anxious to have an indigenous plant expansion at the town's water source of fuel. pollution control plant. Perkins is also involved in a BUilding Services & scheme in Malawi to produce the Environmental Engineer, Jan 1986 diesel substitute, ethanol,. from SCRAM Journal February/March '86 19 IIAppropriate Technolog Greentown• The Greentown Group is set to begin Phase 1, will have one share in CVA The project still faces obsta­ Phase 1 of their cooperatively-run, and be able to play a full part in cles from the planning authorities. self build village in Crownhill on running the village. After pressure from Milton Keynes the western edge of Milton Keynes in This year the Building and Borough Council, the Department of July this year (see SCRAM 49). About Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) of the Environment gave Milton Keynes 20% of the 35 acre site will be Coalville, Leicestershire, will make Development Corporation permission developed with the assistance of two awards of £10,000 as part of the for residential development only in Rother 5elf-Build Consultants Ltd. International Year of Shelter (1987) this part of crownhill. Initi~lly The Group has registered Crown­ for the Homeless, for developing and Phase 1 will not be allowed to con­ hill Village Association Ltd (CVA) developed countries respectively. tain any major 'commercial' land to develop the land. CVA will ac­ Greentown has been shortlisted in uses, such as workshops or horticul­ quire the freehold/leasehold of the the second category. The BSHF seeks tural businesses. As the 45 homes in land for Phase 1 and will lease land schemes which 1dentify human sett­ Phase 1 are completed CVA intends to to individual housing clusters. lement projects that offer sustain­ obtain permission to develop the These may take the form of conven­ able futures to the residents and village centre and the rest of the tional Self-Build Housing Associa­ present practical and imaginative project as it has al~ays been tions, Housing Cooperatives aiming solutions to current problems (of planned: that is as a mixed-use de­ for a group mortgage or other legal unemployment, diminishing energy velopment. structures. All adult members of the resources and lack of housing oppor­ village, starting with residents of tunities. for low-income people).' Contact David Olivier on 0908 314381. IISola The Energy Technology SUpport Unit Field Trials project will acheive (ETSU) of the Department of Energy this by spending about one year has commissioned a major research & developing a package of measure­ development exercise aimed at es­ ment, analysis and reporting tech­ tablishing a rolling programme of niques which can be deployed in a efficient low cost monitoring of wide variety of energy efficient passive solar buildings. buildings incorporating passive The work, which will run for solar technology. Thereafter each over three years, has been contrac­ of the two teams will complete and ted to 2 teams: Databuild Ltd (En­ report about 8 trials a year. gineering, Architecture and R&D ETSU, Databuild and UWIST are Consultants of Birmingham) and The confident that this form of field Welsh School of Architecture (of trial work represents the next the University of Wales Institute logical step after a decade of R&D of Science & Technology [UWIST] in in energy and buildings. The indus­ Cardiff). try now requires rapid feedback on This Minor Field Trials pro­ a range of applications of energy ject grew from mounting concern at efficiency technology. For this to the high monitoring costs and len­ contractors and users. be possible, a standardised, but gthy timescales of conventional Since the main thrust of the flexible methodology is needed and monitoring of energy efficient R&D projects is to underpin and it must place as much emphasis on buildings which inhibit the range promote the replication of success­ analysis and dissemination as on of subjects which can be studied in ful technology, it is essential measurement. the field and hence the turnover of that they are responsive to devel­ For further details contact Dr Alan feedback to building designers, opments in industry. The Minor Hildon on 021 236 6477. •Wind Sail power is back in vogue, not assisted freighters. The first Bri­ tonne computer-contrclled Walker for twee TV series about tea clip­ tish ship to use the ages-old 'new' Wingsail made from steel, light pers, but as big business cutting technology of sail power will be alloy and plastic. The Wingsail is ships' fuel costs by 25%. the Ashington, a small bulk carrier an aerofoil, which not only har­ As always the UK is well be­ operated by Stevenson Clarke Ship­ nesses the wind's power, but also hind world trends, with the Japa­ ping. stabilises the ship. nese already operating eight sail- The Ashington will use a 7 Financial Times, 13.1.86

20 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 Approp ri ate Technology•

The Central ElectricityGenerating their 300kW turbines has clocked up renewable energy with tax credits Board (cmB) has been testing vari­ 7000 hou.rs of successful operation to subsidise the installation of ous designs of wind generators at on surgur Hill in the Orkneys for wind, solar and biomass energy camarthen Bay in Wales for the past the North of Scotland Hydro-Elec­ systems. three years and has now taken the tric soard a.nd the soard plans to These incentives proved so plunge with a lMW machine to be install a 750kW turbine on Shetland popular that the £5m allocated for sited at Richborough in Kent. this year. The company has also last year ran out six months ahead The latest machine has been just completed a $48m contract for of schedule, and the wind machine ordered from James Howden & company 75 turbines for California (see manufacturers are pressing for the of Glasgow at a cost of £2.8m SCRAM 47). The Californian wind allocaticn tc be doubled next yea.r. which will be paid for by a consor­ farm represents an annual saving of There are 20 wind energy companies tium comprising the CEGB, the De­ over 100,000 barrels of oil. in Denmark, employing 2500 people partment of Energy and the EEC. .Despite Howden 's sucess the UK and 1985 exports a r e expected to Bowden is the UK's market is slow to keep up with the burge­ reach £150m. There are 1300 wind leader in wind energy technology oning world market for wind tur­ turbines operating in Denmark, with and has a history of association bines, which is led by Denmark. The 800 connected tc the grid supplying with the electricity boards; one of canes have a high commitment to SOMW of electricity. • Biomass Coconuts can be a source of energy, Petroleum products account for wood is the other scarce re­ twicet This is the aim of a project 60% of Tanzania's export earnings source which the coconut products presently being undertaken in Tan­ to bring in much-needed foreign could save; 10 million tonnes of zania by the aid agency German currency; the coconut products wood per year is converted into Technical Cooperation. The agency could cut the costs of electricity charcoal for cooking in the capital has started a pilot plant which by two thirds. The pilot plant city, oar es Salaam. burns coconut shells, and produces alone could save $75,000. However, the new charcoal has charcoal and gas as a result. not been readily accepted by the When burnt lOkg of coconut consumer; it burns too quickly and shells produce 3kg of charcoal and 0 is too hot. Attempts to introduce S.Skg of gas, compared with only new technology in Africa often fail O.lkg of charcoal and a dirty, if the results are not up to the unusable gas from the same quantity traditional standards, and extra of wood; and Tanzania is almost as financial outgoings create hardship short of wood as it is of petro­ in conditions of poverty. leum. New Scientist, 16.1.86 • Insulation The budget for next year's English Energy, described the cuts as 'a reduced from £28m (1985/6) to £23.5m Homes Insulation Programme - the very unhappy start for Energy Effic­ for next year. This could mean up to only government scheme to assist iency Year . 60,000 eligible households will be energy effciency investment through- He went on, 'When this time unable to claim assistance during out the residential building sector last year the insulation budget was 1986/7. . - is to be 20% below the current reduced by, 15%, we wrote to the 'unless reversed, this decision value. The Government has offcially Prime Minister urging that the Home will mean cold homes ..• more fuel designated 1986 as Energy Efficiency, Insulation Scheme be transferred wasted (and) could reduce jobs fur­ Year! from the Department of 'the Environ- ther in the insulation industry. It For the past nine years those ment to the Department of Energy. we could increase the dangers of death with no loft insulation have been repeat this plea with even greater from hypothermia. entitled to claim from their local vigour this year.' 'I would advise everyone now council up to at least £69 towards The Government's laudable aim eligible for a loft insulation grant the cost of installing some insula- of making Britain Europe's most to contact their council before the tion. Since .August 1984, the scheme energy efficient nation within the end of March, before these new re­ has been expanded to include those lifetime of this Parliament can in duced allocations minimise their with less than one inch of insula- no way be helped by this damaging chances of acquiring a warmer, chea­ tion. reduction in financial assistance to per to run home,· concluded Mr War­ .Andrew warren, Director of the householders. ren. Association for the conservation of The overall budget has been Contact ~ew warren on 01 935 1495.

SCRAM Journal Pebruary/March '86 21 •Reviews

Edge of Darkness, BBC 1 & 2 their dreams of doing the same to steadily grew) and ending sometime other planets, and he zaps them with after the accident at Three Mile It was gratifying that the Edge of two lumps of plutonium brought to­ Island (1979) which many considered Darkness was so successful. There gether at critical mass, must have represented the end of the road for were things to complain of it as a acted out the desires of many anti­ the American Nuclear Industry. thriller. The action was incoherent, nuclear activists and passivists. It Though most papers are broadly with people constantly getting shot was good of the BBC to repeat the 'neutral' in tone, the contributors whom you'd only glimpsed before and series, but did they have to choose vary from committed green activists whose part in the plot had escaped the xmas period when most people are to employees of the nuclear in­ you. It was exasperating to keep unlikely to be in for three consec­ dustry. seeing the dead daughter popping up utive nights. Of particular interest is the and arguing with her father. No repeated view that the American doubt many were insulted by the idea R M Bell public's disenchantment with nuclear that the ~IA was behind starting up power has developed gradually over an anti-nuclear movement. (Would Note: Re symbol of black flowers - time in association with increasing. that it were true. Then we wouldn't space does not permit my dealing concern about environmental pollu­ be chronically short of funds.) The with that subject with the depth it tion and rising costs and ineffi­ writer of the screen-play, Troy deserves. ciencies in the nuclear programme. Kennedy Martin, seemed to think in It has not arisen suddenly as a terms of effective scenes, rather const~ence of particular accidents than a dove-tailed plot, and con­ such as Three Mile Island. Similar­ nected events with a blurry cyn­ ly, public concern about nuclear lClsm. Everybody was supposed to be power is shown to be a consequence manipulating everybody else; how or of informed opinion and is greater why, you could not tell. amongst those with scientific know­ Thriller writers are always ledge or interest than in the public partisan. They will give victory to as a whole (always excepting, of the side they approve of - the more course, those actually working in sophisticated will give them moral the nuclear industry). victory. They long to tell you how The second volume under review, the SAS stands between the free 'paradoxes in Western Energy De­ world and destruction or how peace velopment', is concerned solely with groups are really run by Moscow. PUblic Reactions to Nuclear POWer: the south-western United States and Their chart of the world plots half­ Are there Critical Masses? includes a series of case studies of hidden forces and their powers - the Paradoxes of Western Energy Develop­ options for the development of the media, big business, the secret ment: How can we Maintain the Land energy resources of this part of services and underground groups. A and the People if we Develop? North America. AS such it is of good thriller may not make you be­ American ASsociation for the Ad­ rather little interest in a Euro­ lieve that the actual events are vancement of science, selected Sym­ pean context, though it includes likely to have happened, but the posia 93 and 94, Westview Press some interesting pieces. For ex­ atmosphere it creates will make the anple, the emphasis is on the de­ power of these forces in the world Both these books are edited collec­ velopment of fossil fuels, thus seem larqe and true. tions of papers and, though pub­ there is detailed consideration of Thus it is not to be believed lished in 1984, the latest includes pollution controls in fossil fuel that two men even as loopy as the material relating to 1982. extraction as well as combustion. hero craven and the CIA agent Jed­ Of the two books, only 'Public Since the coming of the Reagan ad­ burgh would go down into a hot cell Reactions to NUclear Power' is like­ ministration such controls have been to face certain and hideous death. ly to be of interest to a general considerably weakened, both through But the whole atmosphere was dense reader. A number of papers are pre­ legislative changes and through fi­ with nuclear menace. The climax, sented which examine public percep­ nancial and staff restrictions on when Jedburgh faces the NATO secur­ tions of the nuclear industry, be­ the regulatory agencies. That situ­ ity people who are sharing their ginning in the early 1970's (and ation, at least, is not wholly un­ fantasies about eating this planet therefore covering a period in which familiar to the British reader. dry to fuel the equipment needed for public concern about nuclear power Mike Leven

22 SCRAM Journal February/March '86 - Reviews

ntl a path br-eaking book. .. r:uclear P01·1er - Assessing and t'.an­ equally between the AGR and P\·IR institut1ons have most influence on aging Hazardot!~ Tc>chnology ed. ~:ar­ controversies, and the unenviable that decision, and to ask how ac­ t.ln Pao.'-lu.:~lettl and K. Daniel PiJa•:• bungl1ngs of the reprocessing and countable those particular institu­ ka, Westview Repl1ca Eds, 412pp. fast reactor development progrann~s. tions are. It obtains a general It is a hlstory of power polit1cs as picture from an ru1alysis of a number Tnis is a collection of academic far as these can be ascer•ained from of weapcns programmes. It concludes essays, on the state of the art in public statements wtuch escape the that the key point is the decision risk assessment and cost benef1t interiors of Whiteb.:tll and the 0<2- to pursue a development programme analysis of var1ous aspects of the partment of Energy. Assiduous read­ and that no publicly accountable nuclear fuel cha1n, princiFally of ers of parl1arr~ntary reports may not body has any influence on , or neces­ reactor safety. Written by geo­ l>?arn a great deal, but most !J€0ple sarily any knowledge of, such decl­ graphers, ~t places emphasis on the will learn a lot :rom Walt Patter­ sions. soatial d1stribution of such risks. son's account of events and ln­ The anti-nuclear moverrent canr.'Jt r.ost of 1ts case studies and lnter­ quuies which he has vlatched closely ' afford to repeat the sel:- r.ational com?C~r isons of adlmni­ even if he has not been personally congratulatory and uncrittcal stance strat!ve procedures are drawn from involved. or the nuclear wdustry. Ir; thts English speaking countries. light, I would have ltk~d to have The authors are oetter at re­ seen the cor.clus~on to the chaprer vealing their assurr.p;;ions of their on Bnt:sh 1nvolve:rent in :Me Euro­ +.:o role as ::echr.lcal adv1sors neu­ ~~an Fast Reactor Programme put tn tral ddminls~raLors th,tn th~y are at the form of a quest~on - what is the assessi:1g nucl•?ar power. Their oias rat tonale for th1s 1n• o::rnat.r)r!.:!l 1s ;.o:,.oards nuclear reactors at the prO<:Jramre? exoer.se of tne rest of the nuclear ;.:ak~ng muc~. ploy of t:;e 1:;ep~ 1- fuel cycle, to~o:ards ca:ast!c.phic tude of BNFL dr.d Ll.e UKAU\, :n f?<1:­ even::.s rather tnar. ~ne problems of ticular, tn a light saunc<:.: s::.yle, rouune operations, and towards en­ the book 1s easy to read, YPt dts­ g1nee~ing rather than economic, soc­ turtang. :.f you haven't gi·:er. your ial or poli t teal risks. Al!:hough MP, your stockbroker fnend, or ycur some contributors recognise ~his ne1gl':bouring nucl~ar chem1-a· en­ O!as, they do not put up a frameworr \·lithoul '"'ist ing to bellttle his g:neer a copy ye::, now 1s tne crr.s~ for analysing the whole fuel cyc~e work, there are a few polnts about to do so. nor do they appear to be aware of the book which disappointed me . '!'he 'fhls 1:> an analysis wh:cr. has any research concerning rout1ne dis­ proof-readinq was not perfect, wilh not. been conducted so c!early :.n t!':e charges or of the social construc­ one glaring error on pl24 recordwg case of nuc.eat po.-'er prograrr.~s . As tion of risky activities. They are the vllndscale Inquiry as start1ng on tLe pa:r.ph let says, •deploy;rent hat--­ not self-critical of their role as 14 June 1974 - it should read 1977 . pens regardless ot publ:c protes~ academic risk-experts. hhile the book 1S wtended to be a'la because a weapon ::as bee:1 1:1 Aoart from the balance and 10urnallstic, a shqhlly more sys­ preparation for f~fteen years or coverage of the conten~s, the col­ atlc approach wh1ch gave an it.. mised rrore ·: it lS ntgh t tmP that th:s ·~·as lectlon 1s well edited. The index is tabulation of the costings over ::he realtsed by tb? anti-nU(._'l

SCRAM Journal February/March '86 23 •Listings Active Solar Energy Conferences Broad range of solar energy topics, 'Civil Nuclear Power : Policies and including: - practical problems o~ Opt lOOS. making and installing solar panels; ·.,·orkshops inc ud-_: nuclear power ar1d design of solar heating syste~s; pro:! ferauon, v;.:lste disposal, "'ner­ operation of solar heating systems. gy d~m3r.d Fred.c::1ons, plu~on1um product.1on and m1l1tary links, and February 14-26 Cost, £95,£70,£45 for SCl~n:l~lc education. Speakers ln­ hlghwaged/la~ waged/cla1mants re­ c!~d~: nr Brian ~ynne, Dr Col1n spectively s ... .,. ·t, ?rof John Zir:an. Centre for Alternative Technology, Machynlleth, mid-Wales. 0654 2400 8 March, 0-4.30, t6 con·act: Dept of continuing Educa­ Passive Solar Buildings t1on, 19 Pbercrorrby Square, Liver­ Pr1nc1ples of pass1ve solar build­ pool University, PO Box 147, Liver- ings, Trombe walls, case studies, pool L69 3BX retrofit, storage and ins~lation. Little Black Rabblt was paying a visit to friends in East Lothian February 21-23 Cost: as above. owr the festlve season and decided Place: as above . Seminar to rr~ke a long-overdue trip to assess the progress of the Torness Environmental Education Living with Hazards will seek to nuclear power station. Practical Alternat1ve Technology for This visit was essential be­ schools and colleges. The contribu­ cover all those situations where the results of an acc1dent could have cause there had been many rumours tion Alternative Technology makes to circulating about the plant: was it environmental educat1on. serious consequences :or the com­ munities around . really en target as the Electricity ~al BOard kept maintaining, or was it April 11-13 Contributions from: Industry, Authorities, Statutory BOdies . failin') behind? Cost : as above Our intrepid long eared fr1end Place: as above. 5 March, 9.30-4.30 ·.;as surprised to hear that the Contact: TCPA, 17 Car::on Ho~se scaffolding ·~as being taken down Terrace, London SWlY 5~5 . Ol 930 from around the nurrber 1 reactor: 8903 •... ·as 1t 1ndeed on time after all? Exhibition On a subseouent visit the follow1ng month Little Black Rabb1t An exhibition of art and craft done heard that the scaffolding was by women about and at Greenharn is being put up again! Why? ~aybe it olanned . Send drawings , paintings, Courses ·... asn · t on target, or perhaps some sculptures, ~hotos and anything else oroolem had been encountered wh1ch v;o!TP-n 1•ould 2.lke to see included to: SOlar Installation, "Green City', required ren€dial aCtlOn? Greenham Art , Wimmins Peace Camp , Energy f>'.anagement, saving Energy 1 ~ittle Black Rabb1t dec1ded to GLeenham Common , Newbury Berks. Toboggan and Kite making and more . do some burrowing to try to f1nd valuable items should be sent reg­ Contact: Community Energy ~~rkshop, ou~ ·..;hat was go1ng on at the site. istered. Send cheques also to the 109 Philip Street, Bristol BS3 ~DR. :t wasn't long before the story above address. 0272 633895 began to emerge. A reporter from the Scottish Sunday ra1l rang to say that a leak had been discovered during pressure test1ng: '"'as it si gm f1 can:? SUBSCRIBE PAY OUR The helpful people at the Electric1ty Board Head Oft1ce ex­ plained that the leak was not dan­ gerous and these things do crop up ~NOW~ ~WAGES!~ the fHst tine the systen, lS pres- sure tested. It w1ll be corrected SUBSCRIPTIUN FORt-\ WAGES STNJDING ORDER FORM before the reactor is fuelled and it shouldn't affect the schedule. Little Black Rabbit is still Annual subscription rates Name . . apprehens1ve because of the leak in Address. the primary cooling system of Hlnk­ Ordinary ...... £7' ley POint Bin Somerset . Torness is Concessionary ...... £4 'l'el the same type of po~~r station. Supporting ...... £10 So , was the scaffold1ng re­ Institutional ...... £12 To The r-1anager: placed to get access to plug the Overseas ...... £.9 .Bank leak? Little Black Rabbit heard Household ...... £30 Address. that a loan of £150m from the Euro- Life sub ...... £50 pean Investment Bank, an indepen­ dent financ1al institut1on w1th1n YES 1/'de w1sh to subscribe the EUropean Community, ~~s condi­ Please pay on ... (1st payment) tlonal on testing being carried out the sum of . . . from my account by January 1986. Is it possible Nante . number . . . . to the Royal Bank that this stipulat1on dictated a Mdcess. of Scotland, 142 Princes Street, premature testing? · Edinburgh (83-51-00) for the Moreover, reactor n~ber 1 has Tel .. credtt of SCRAM Number 2 account been . · . - · 258597 and make similar payments Return lo: SCRAM, 11 Forth St , monthly/yearly until cancelled. ~~~ ·' ~ ~s~~~e;,.. ~e~~ ~~r ~n~~~ J Edinburgh EHl 3LE . 031 557 4283 the f · ~-RiilllWr~ · that is second re?otor :_~s:Jbehind Stgned .... Date .... sched .

24 ~ ...._~ .- - SCRAM Jour~a-:r-· r eotuar}'Jm