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.

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.

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.

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.

Revealed: the oil companies which breached safety rules

from Sunday Herald, 09 March 2008

The oil companies guilty of a series of safety breaches on North Sea rigs have been named and shamed by the government’s health and safety watchdog - but only after a freedom of information request by the Sunday Herald.

In the last three years Shell, Total, BP, Chevron, Maersk and other companies have all faced legal action from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), forcing them to fix flaws in their crucial safety and maintenance systems.

Numerous rules designed to reduce the risk of accidents, fires and explosions to prevent workers from being injured or killed have been broken. Fire doors, valves, and other critical safety equipment have been found to be faulty, and maintenance regimes inadequate.

The historic toilet in the way of a new Forth bridge

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2008

The government’s controversial £4 billion plan to build another road bridge across the Firth of Forth is going to run into an unexpected hitch: a historic toilet.

A First World War latrine at Port Edgar in South Queensferry, along with a cell block, an air raid shelter and naval barracks, have all been put under legal protection by the government’s guardian of ancient monuments, Historic Scotland. But the buildings are directly in the way of the proposed new bridge.

The Sunday Herald can also reveal that another government agency, Transport Scotland, secretly tried to prevent the buildings from being protected in order to clear the path for the new bridge - a move that has been attacked as “inappropriate meddling” by environmentalists.

Green watchdog 'muzzled' on polluting farmers

from Sunday Herald, 03 February 2008

Scotland’s green watchdog held back a planned attack on polluting farmers after consulting government spin doctors, according to internal documents obtained by the Sunday Herald.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) completely rewrote a draft news release, after circulating it to ministerial media officials. An accusation that farmers’ leaders were being “misleading” was left out in favour of bland comments about the “key role” of agriculture in protecting the environment.

The revelation has prompted accusations from environmentalists that SEPA was “muzzled” by ministers in order not to offend the powerful farming lobby, though that is denied by SEPA and the Scottish government.

Scotland accused of 65 breaches of European laws

from Sunday Herald, 16 December 2007

Scotland has been accused by the European Union (EU) of 65 violations of laws meant to prevent pollution, protect wildlife and control waste, according to a secret government database released to the Sunday Herald.

The number of alleged breaches of European legal directives over the past six years is twice as high as previously admitted, prompting accusations yesterday that Scotland's record was "shocking" and had been "covered up".

The range of environmental crimes investigated by the EU is very broad. They include breaking rules on overfishing, hazardous waste, water pollution, sewage, radiation protection, plant imports, pesticides, birds of prey and pigs.

Safety warning at nuclear bomb plant

from New Scientist, 19 September 2007

Britain's nuclear bomb factory has been struggling to remedy as many as 1,000 safety defects uncovered by the government's official watchdog. And it has only been allowed to remain open because the Ministry of Defence says the work it does is vital.

The remarkable and, until now, secret story of the serious problems being faced by the nuclear weapons complex at Burghfield in Berkshire is revealed in 13 internal reports released by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) to New Scientist under freedom of information law.

£115 million handed out to 100 rich farmers

from Sunday Herald, 16 September 2007

A hundred of the richest farmers in Scotland have had a massive £115 million hand-out from the government over five years, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

More than 50 farmers, including some well-known members of the landed gentry, pocketed over £1 million each. Five received over £2 million each, and one lucky guy got £3.5 million.

The hand-outs have been lambasted as "galling" "astonishing" and even "virtually Biblical" by environmentalists. But they have been defended by farmers and landowners as "nothing to be ashamed of" because of the contribution they make to the rural economy.

UK nuclear accidents blamed on poor safety

from New Scientist, 30 August 2007

Two of the UK’s most serious nuclear weapons accidents in the 1980s were caused by long term lapses in safety procedures, according to newly declassified government reports released to New Scientist under freedom of information laws. The accidents look more serious than previously admitted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Executive's bluff called on terrorist risks

from Sunday Herald, 26 August 2007

The risk of a terrorist attack was wrongly used by the Scottish Executive as an excuse to keep information about radioactive contamination of drinking water secret.

The Scottish Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, has found the Executive guilty of breaching freedom of information legislation by failing to provide documents from a file entitled "Release of Radionuclides in Drinking Water Systems".

Executive ordered to name farmers with biggest subsidies

01 August 2007

The Scottish Executive has been found guilty of breaching freedom of information legislation and ordered to release the names of farmers who have received the most public subsidies in Scotland.

Revealed: nuclear bomb convoys' 67 safety incidents

from Sunday Herald, 15 July 2007

The nuclear bomb convoys that regularly trundle through Scotland have suffered 67 safety incidents over the last seven years, sparking fears of a "catastrophic" accident.

Lists obtained by the Sunday Herald from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) reveal details of dozens of mechanical faults and equipment failures since 2000, as well as delays and diversions caused by anti-nuclear protests.

US nuclear missiles posed safety threat at Greenham Common

from New Scientist, 11 July 2007

When the US deployed nuclear missiles in England during the cold war, it did so despite safety warnings from UK government scientists, New Scientist has learned.

Between 1983 and 1991, the US stationed 96 nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at Greenham Common in Berkshire, prompting the most prolonged and iconic of the UK’s protests against nuclear weapons.

Now, previously top secret reports released to New Scientist by the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) under freedom of information legislation show that the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston had estimated that 10 million people, including the population of London, could have been exposed to an “inhalation hazard” from plutonium if warheads exploded or caught fire.

Officials accused of blocking progress on climate change

from Sunday Herald, 24 June 2007

Civil servants threatened to block publication of a report exposing flaws in the Scottish Executive's attempts to cut the pollution that is wrecking the climate.

Housing, enterprise and transport officials all expressed alarm at the contents of a report commissioned by the previous Executive to identify "policy gaps" on climate change.

Forth Ports accused of being 'heavy-handed'

from Sunday Herald, 17 June 2007

The harbour company, Forth Ports, has been accused of trying to hamper an environmental assessment of controversial plans for pumping millions of tonnes of oil a year between tankers in the Firth of Forth.

The company had been "very heavy handed", according to the government's conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Strict secrecy rules it wanted to impose on SNH officials could have prevented them from advising ministers.

Pressure to release secret NHS cancer files

from Sunday Herald, 10 June 2007

New allegations about the cancer risks from radioactive contamination of the Solway Firth are putting pressure on the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Nicola Sturgeon, to release statistics kept secret by the NHS.

Campaigners claim that children living near the Dumfries and Galloway shoreline are twice as likely to contract leukaemia as those living further inland. They blame sea pollution from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria and from the firing of depleted uranium shells at a military range near Kirkcudbright.

Nuclear exercise cock-ups raise doubts over emergency response

from Sunday Herald, 08 April 2007

Serious flaws have been exposed in Scotland's arrangements for responding to a nuclear accident, raising fears about how officials would cope with other emergencies.

A secret Scottish Executive memo, obtained by the Sunday Herald, has revealed a series of cock-ups during an emergency exercise at the Torness nuclear power station in 2003.