Rob Edwards

Scottish ministers can block nuclear stations

28 April 2008

Any proposal to build a new nuclear power station in Scotland could be blocked by the Scottish government, according to internal documents released today.

A series of emails between civil servants in June 2005 confirms that Scottish ministers have devolved legal powers to reject applications for new power reactors north of the border.

Safety ban on nuclear bomb work

from Sunday Herald, 27 April 2008

Vital work at Britain’s nuclear bomb factory has been halted for months because of safety fears, preventing Trident warheads from being shipped to and from the Clyde. 

The ban on crucial maintenance at the Burghfield plant in Berkshire is believed to be the first time the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ever been obliged to stop working on nuclear weapons. The implications, say critics, are “far reaching”. 

Managers of ageing bomb dismantling facilities have been struggling for the last six years to remedy over 1,000 safety flaws uncovered by the government’s Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). But deadlines have been repeatedly broken. 

Now the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), which runs Burghfield, has been forced to cease “live nuclear work” while outstanding safety problems are fixed. The stoppage has been in place since at least December, though it was only admitted by AWE last week.

Bombarding the birds of Cape Wrath

from Sunday Herald, 27 April 2008

A massive multinational military exercise underway in the far north west of Scotland is putting lambs, seabirds and possibly whales at risk.

Around 70 aircraft and 36 warships are bombarding Cape Wrath, near Durness, as part of a two-week training exercise codenamed Joint Warrior, involving the armed forces of 17 NATO countries, including the UK, the US, Canada and France.

But the area is surrounded by farms, is vital for Scotland’s collapsing seabird populations and is frequented by whales and dolphins. Cape Wrath’s northern sea cliffs have been designated a special protection area for birds under European law.

One year on, how green is the SNP?

from Sunday Herald, 27 April 2008

The SNP grew up on oil, is wedded to economic expansion and always wants to put Scotland first. As a political party, it has never developed a coherent theoretical approach to one of the defining issues of the age: the environment.

It comes as some surprise then, that after a year in power, the SNP has won warm plaudits from many environmentalists. There are still major reservations, of course, but most observers outside political parties seem to think that the SNP is doing a better job than its predecessors in government.

The future for cars is electric, says WWF

27 April 2008

There is a future for cars, but only if they are powered by electricity instead of oil.

That is the message that is going to be delivered by environmental group, WWF, tomorrow as the prospect of fuel shortages looms, due to the industrial dispute at Grangemouth.

Let's take cancer clusters seriously this time

comment, from New Scientist, 26 April 2008

by Ian Fairlie

Among the many environmental concerns surrounding nuclear power plants, there is one that provokes public anxiety like no other: the fear that children living near nuclear facilities face an increased risk of cancer. Though a link has long been suspected, it has never been proven. Now that seems likely to change.

Police accused of persecuting green protesters

from Sunday Herald, 20 April 2008

The police have been accused of a campaign of harassment and intimidation by environmental protesters arrested after peaceful demonstrations in Edinburgh.

Student activists have told the Sunday Herald that they were deprived of food, water and medical attention while being held overnight in police cells last week. Some also said they’ve been woken by dawn raids, or asked to become paid informers.

The protesters have been backed by their parents, who are alarmed that non-violent demonstrators are being treated “like terrorists”. The Green MSP, Robin Harper, has also accused the police of a “gross over-reaction”

Labour minister rejected advice on flawed schools scheme

from Sunday Herald, 20 April 2008

A former Labour minister rejected advice from senior officials to delay a deeply flawed and highly controversial £100 million plan for new schools and homes in Stirling and Dunblane, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

Top secret documents disclose that the deputy communities minister in 2005, Johann Lamont, was strongly urged by government planners to call in the application for consideration by ministers. The plans were lambasted by advisers as “questionable”, “worrying” and “poor”.

Stirling Council, which promoted the development, was also accused of “procedural failings” and of maximising profit at the expense of decent housing. “Stirling Council's judgement in carrying out its statutory duty under the terms of planning legislation has been heavily clouded by its conflict of interests,” warned the official advice to the minister.

Moorland birds under threat from global warming

from Sunday Herald, 20 April 2008

One of the icons of Scotland’s moors, the golden plover, is under threat because global warming is killing the food which it needs to survive - daddy longlegs.

A new study by scientists has warned that, if nothing is done, populations of the bird could be wiped out by the end of the century. Other moorland birds who feed on the insect, like the curlew, greenshank and dotterel, may also be at risk.

Details on plutonium stores could ‘help terrorists’

17 April 2008

Releasing details of the plutonium stores at the Dounreay nuclear plant in Scotland could have a “far reaching” impact on national security, the UK’s freedom of information tsar has ruled.

Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has upheld a decision by the UK Atomic Energy Authority to withhold seven files on the storage and safety of “fissile material” and “special nuclear material” at the Caithness site.

Nuclear super-fuel gets too hot to handle

from New Scientist, 09 April 2008

It seems like a no-brainer. Make uranium burn stronger, hotter and longer in nuclear reactors, and you'll need less fuel, and there'll be less waste to deal with when it has been exhausted.

For decades, nuclear operators have done just that, but emerging safety and waste-disposal issues are raising questions about this approach. The latest high-efficiency fuel may prove to be unstable in an emergency, and so poses a greater risk of leakage of radioactive material into the environment. What's more, the waste fuel is more radioactive, meaning it could prove even more difficult than existing waste to store in underground repositories.

Radioactive contamination of homes in breach of safety limits

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Homes in Dalgety Bay in Fife have been contaminated by military radioactive waste in breach of safety limits, putting the health of residents at risk.

A new survey for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), seen by the Sunday Herald, reveals that the gardens of up to nine houses at the coastal resort could be polluted with high levels of radium-226 from old war planes.

The MoD is now coming under growing pressure to dig out the contamination, for which it has in the past denied responsibility. It is also being asked by the Scottish government’s green watchdog to clean up the foreshore at Dalgety Bay, which is suspected of being even more polluted.

DU contamination in breach of safety limits

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Radioactive pollution of a Scottish military firing range by depleted uranium (DU) has risen to the highest level for over ten years, according to a survey for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Soil on parts of the Kirkcudbright Training Area on the Solway coast is so contaminated that it breaches agreed safety limits. And the contamination is spreading, as DU fragments from shells misfired in the past start to corrode.

The contamination, revealed in a declassified scientific report passed to the Sunday Herald, was described as “very worrying” by the Scottish environment minister, Michael Russell, yesterday.

Public agencies must have climate duty, says union

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Every public sector organisation should have to justify the impact on the climate of every decision it takes, under plans to be put forward by the trade union, Unison.

Councils, enterprise agencies, government bodies and the government itself would all be accountable for any development or plan which increases the pollution that is warming the globe.

And, in a novel suggestion, Unison is proposing that chief executives responsible for climate-wrecking schemes should be hauled up before school children to explain their actions, as well as the Scottish Parliament.

Plea for sustainable local food

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Ministers must put the environment at the heart of their policy on food by seeking to support local food, minimise food miles and cut pollution, say the government’s green advisers.

But in a submission to the Scottish government’s discussion on food policy this week, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) will warn that there could be “confusion and misunderstanding” if the goal of sustainable food is not properly defined.

The SDC will also call on ministers to do more to help ensure global food security, by reducing the amount of food imported into Scotland. And it will urge all public agencies to source the meals served in their canteens from local producers.

Nuclear industry must not forget lessons of the past

Comment, from New Scientist, 09 April 2008

In the nuclear industry, memories can be distressingly short. In 1976, the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution declared that it would be "morally wrong" to make a major commitment to nuclear power without demonstrating a way of safely isolating radioactive waste.

Yet the UK is about to embark on a programme to build at least 10 reactors while still lacking a disposal site for the waste that has accumulated over the past 50 years. What's more, spent fuel from these reactors will be far more radioactive than existing waste and may even require a second repository.

Trouble ahead on breaches of European laws

from Sunday Herald, 06 April 2008

Ministers are preparing to face censure over alleged breaches of European laws meant to protect whales and birds of prey and to prevent pollution, an internal report obtained by the Sunday Herald reveals.

The Scottish government is also anticipating “potential problems” with legal action from the European Commission (EC) over the controversial wind farm proposed for the Isle of Lewis, fisheries policy, environmental assessments and sewage leakages in Campbeltown.

An up-to-date database of all the active legal disputes between the Scottish government and the EC has been released under freedom of information legislation. Details of the so-called “infraction cases” were kept secret until the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, ordered that to end last December.

Plague of pests threatens historic buildings

from Sunday Herald, 06 April 2008

They eat clothes, curtains and carpets, they bore holes through chairs, beds and floorboards, and they nibble at the pages of books. And, thanks to global warming, they are on the march.

The rising temperatures and increasing humidity triggered by climate change are threatening to unleash a plague of pests on the priceless contents of Scotland’s historic buildings, according to a new warning from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).

Clothes moths, carpet beetles, woodworm, mould and fungi are all on the ascendancy, says NTS’s head of collections conservation services, Clare Meredith. This puts the textiles, furniture and books in some of the nation’s iconic castles and stately homes in danger.

Work to rid Scotland of Trident to start

from Sunday Herald, 06 April 2008

The Scottish government working group aiming to get rid of Trident nuclear weapons is due to hold its first meeting in Edinburgh this week.

The 13-strong group, chaired by the minister for parliamentary business, Bruce Crawford, was set up last month to help further the Scottish National Party’s policy to make Scotland nuclear-free.

Call for companies to green their cars

from Sunday Herald, 06 April 2008

Scottish firms could save a total of £270 million a year by taking advantage of a new tax break for greener cars, claims a report out today.

Switching to low-polluting cars could significantly cut the bills of companies because of lower government taxes on vehicles emitting 120 grams or less of carbon dioxide per kilometre. The new taxes are due to come into force today.