No.89 June/July 1992 £1 .50 .. ... •·•·• .... ·.··. ··><·: '· anti-nuclear demonstration but an SCRAM's .. S~fe Etif!rgy jQLi~nalls COMMENT impromptu pop concert/' Greenpeace produced bf.:.monthly for the Brltl~h Anti-nuclear and Safe Energ)' had been granted a music licence for movements by .· the . ;.ScoUish s the 'mother of parliaments', the the day to allow U2 to play. BNFL's Cam!)aign to Resist the ,\tornic world's oldest democracy, turn­ real concern was that once the rock Menace. Views express~d in articles fans knew the full horror of THoRP' s appearing in .this )ournal .. ·are not I ing into the newest dictatorship? necessarily. those of SCRAM; A country where local authority office environmental and health implications bearers are disbarred from holding they would add their voice to the office in political parties, thus being growing protest scram, skram, v. ···· to shut-down a nuclear denied their democratic rights. A If the company are really concerned reactor in an emergency. country where under the constraints ...... ·. about" safety, public order and public of the new local authority finance legislation, Scottish authorities will health," they should cancel THORP. be unable to take part in a public CONTRIB!)ilONS Reprocessing is without purpose; it we welcome contributions of inquiry over the digging of a hole for increases the volume of radioactive articles, news, letters, graphl~s and nuclear waste at Sellafield. waste for final disposal by 160 times photographs; which should .bl,. sent and lays the foundations for the to SCRAM at the address below. There is a good chance that that plutonium economy. It must, as it LETTERS inquiry will establish generic already has been in the USA and many SCRAM·reser'tf~• ttie•• rlght.·to~dit approval for the deep dump design; other countries, be stopped. lett~rs to fit the.vailable••·•~•.AII approval which will then be exported letters for. publication sho!Jid •!3e submitted by the news deadline North, leaving a Scottish inquiry to EARTH SUMMIT below. argue about the colour of the outbuildings. A country in which the VEN the longest journey starts COPY DEADLINES movements of nuclear materials are with a single step. However, The Copy Deadline for feature with the future of the planet at articles for the next issue kept secret from the very people who E (AugustjSeptember '92) is 21 July. would be expected to pick up the stake, it is alarming that the 150 (Feature articles· a.re approximately pieces in the event of an accident. world leaders who gathered in Rio 900 words per page.) News copy for the Earth Summit have taken us should normally be submitted within Now the Courts, those defenders of such a short a distance along the a week of the features deadline. freedom and liberty, have been used road to sustainable development. ADVERTISING to stifle protest over the opening of the Advertising rates are shown on Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant - George Bush was the hate figure in Rio page 26. Inserts can be mailed out Sellafield 2. A plant which will - and rightly so! with the journal -details on request. increase Sellafield' s radioactive The Earth Summit demanded BACK ISSUES discharges to land and sea by 1000% Back coplu of the journ~l are statesmanship from the leader of the and 800% respectively, escalating available for .most issues. Copies from most powerful nation; instead it got the previous year cost £1.20 (Inc. p&p) environmental and health damage. 'the campaign to re-elect the or £6 for the set of six. Issues more than "We won't allow Sellafield to become President'. As one US a year old are 75p (inc. p&p). a danger to the public," screamed the environmentalist explained, the SUBSCRIPTIONS massive ads taken out in Britain's trouble with Bush is that he's a Marxist For details of subscription rates see national newspapers. Yet they were - his philosophy is "stuff posterity - the form on the back page. not taken out by opponents of the what's it ever done for us?" (Groucho FOR .THE BLIND plant, but by its operators, British Marx] The. text of Safe Energy is. now Nuclear Fuels (BNFL). available on disk for people who are His argument in Rio about protecting registered blind. This service .Is Having previously agreed to a US jobs is the self-centred view of a available at a charge of £3 above the appropriate subscription rate ~ this demonstration against their new Texan oil millionaire - a move away covers the cost of the disks and plant, BNFL took fright when the from fossil fuels will offer new job administration. Further information event threatened to draw over 10,000 opportunities, and much more. -available on request. people to the site. They only agreed Rather than hoping that the 1,000 PRODUCTION originally to the demo on "the basis scientists of the Intergovernmental Editors: that a few hundred would attend." Mike Townsley Panel on Climate Change are wrong, Graham Stein A High Court judge, Mr Justice May, urgent action must be taken now to granted injunctions against reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The Front Cover Illustration: Davld Shaw. Greenpeace, Cumbrians Against a precautionary principle is the only Radioactive Environment (CORE) sane approach. and the Irish 'super group' U2, Energy efficiency and renewable banning them from setting foot on any energy systems are a clean and viable Published by SCRAM, 11 Forth of BNFL' s 3,225 acres, which contains alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear Street, Edinburgh EH1 3LE. the 646-acre reprocessing plant, on the power. They are also appropriate to weekend of June 20. 1t 031-§57' 4283/4 both North and South, offering the Fax i031-557 4284 (no junk taxes) "This is not a free speech issue, it is a chance for convergent paths to public safety issue," claimed BNFL: sustainable development and the ISSN 0140 7340 Bi-monttlly. "What was planned was not an saving of this Earth. 2 Safe Energy 89 SAFE ENERGY CONTENTS FEATURES I 8 THORP: the krypton factor With the start-up of the UiORP reprocessing plant, the release of radioactive krypton gas into the atmosphere will increase by a factor of ten. As Pete Roche of Greenpeace explains, these emissions and their unpredictable conse­ quences could be avoided using existing technology. 1 O UK radhealth proposals criticised Proposals from the Health and Safety Commission to implement a European Community Directive on public information for radiation emergencies have come in for widespread criticism. Fred Barker, a freelance writer and consultant on nuclear issues, reports on the controversy. 12 The wind in Wales Proponents of wind power in Wales are striving to overcome opposition from a variety of unlikely bedfellows. Robert Minhinnick of Friends of the Earth Cymru describes the current state of play. Storing up trouble 14 Scottish Nuclear are planning to build a dry-store at the Torness power station for spent fuel rather than send it to Sellafield for reprocessing. Mike Townsley details their proposals and expresses concern that this temporary store may become a final resting place. Greening our buildings 16 Britain lags far behind its European neighbours in the field of energy-efficient buildings. With reference to his recent Energy efficiency and renewables: recent experiences on mainland europe, David Olivier presents some relevant facts and figures. Rtissing roulette 18 The supply side of the nuclear industry involves its own share of hazards. Tim Archer looks at the environmental effects, and the risks faced by workers in uranium mines. 20 When is a dose not a dose? When it comes from a previously contaminated environment, says the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Friends of the Earth's radiation campaigner, Dr Patrick Green, describes the wrangling over the latest international recommendations on safe radiation levels. June/July '92 3 Nirex's deep trouble also involve some 200 lorries travelling to • Meanwhile, in a letter to Friends of the site daily during construction. Ancient the Earth (FoE) Nirex said they now loaning and standing stones would be de­ plan to perforate the nuclear waste con­ T'S the beginning of the end for stroyed to make way for access roads. An tainers due to be placed in their reposi­ I Nirex's plan for a deep dump at Sel­ appeal against the Planning Board's deci­ tory. lafield. The company have announced sion will be lodged and is likely to result in According to FoE, Nirex have ad­ that they no longer intend to file for a public inquiry. mitted that this change is the result of planning permission this year, instead Since the planning inquiry into the research which highlighted the danger they don't expect to lodge a planning Sellafield deep dump is expected to last posed by gas generation within the steel application before August 1993. a year, this means that no 'solution • to containers. A 150mm hole in the 500 In letters to local authorities, Nirex's the problem of nuclear waste will be litre containers would vent the gas, thus Managing Director, Michael Folger, available for the Government's 1994 preventing pressure building up and says that a review of geological studies nuclear review. Without a 'solution' to causing the containers to explode, claim carried out so far confirms that Sella­ the waste problem it is difficult to see Nirex. field potentially offers a safe site for the how the Government could justify lift­ Previously Nirex has argued that the repository. This is despite revelations ing its moratorium on building new nu­ waste containers should remain water­ earlier this year, made in their own two­ clear power stations.