Tick Tick Boom
Conservatives pushing for more nuclear power stations
Yesterday the UK Government’s Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack MP, announced that he will order ministers to plan for a nuclear reactor to be built in Scotland.
It doesn’t surprise me, as my interactions with that particular Conservative have always left me feeling vaguely slimy and despoiled. Whatever the issue, he has always fobbed me off and defended undemocratic actions, genocide, or any other issue that I emailed him about. Basically, I got Jack shit out of contacting him.
I wonder what has made this millionaire suddenly push for nuclear power, and what lobbying groups see him as a friend?
Scotland only has one operational nuclear site left, Torness, which will be decommissioned in 2028. However, if Alistair Jack’s plans go ahead, we could see the extremely costly and toxic legacy of nuclear power extended in the UK.
A new reactor would be unsafe, extremely costly, and distract from the vital work we need to do to boost clean, green, and renewable energy.
Nuclear energy is not safe, secure, or green, and many people across Scotland will be dismayed and angry to hear that the Secretary of State is seeking to open a new reactor in Scotland.
And just for context, here’s a link to some of the nuclear disasters and accidents that have occurred again and again. In every case we would have been told, “It was a one-off, one-in-a-million accident, we now have safeguards to stop it happening again!” – - but of course, then there’s another, worse accident.
Some UK highlights.
Spring, 1957. Windscale (now Sellafield). Radioactivity release from a military reactor contaminated about 800 farms and introduced strontium 90 to domestic milk supply. Milk was sold to the public without any warnings.
8 Oct 1957. Sellafield. Fire ignited plutonium piles of a military reactor, contaminating surrounding dairy farms with radioactive releases of mainly iodine and in lesser amounts cesium and strontium.
May 1967. Scotland. Melting of fuel element at Dumfries and Galloway (the constituency Alister Jack is supposed to be MP for). Graphite debris partially blocked a fuel channel causing a fuel element to melt and catch fire at the Chapelcross nuclear power station.
May 1977. Dounreay, Scotland. A hydrogen explosion at the plant caused by a reaction of potassium and sodium.
Sep 1996. Dounreay, Scotland. A fuel reprocessing plant was shut down after elevated radiation levels were detected in waste-water discharged to the sea.
Feb 1998. Sellafield. 82,966 litres of radioactive liquor made up of nitric acid containing 20 metric tonnes of dissolved uranium and 160 kilograms of plutonium leaked via a fractured pipe.
2019/2020. Sellafield. Loss of radioactive liquor into the ground from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS).
I bet none of the rich people pushing for dirty nuclear power live next to a Chernobyl waiting to happen.
Promoted by Karl Drinkwater (Green Party) at The Gate, Keppoch Street, Cardiff CF24 3JW.
Disclaimer.
What backwards thinking!