Rob Edwards

Popular beaches excluded from key pollution controls

from Sunday Herald, 29 May 2005

Some of the most popular beaches around Scotland have lost out on legal protection against pollution. Seven of the country’s 25 best-used beaches have not been officially designated by the Executive as bathing waters under European law, so do not have to meet statutory safety limits restricting the amount of sewage in the water.

Row over delay on list of nuclear waste sites

for Sunday Herald, 29 May 2005

Publication of a highly-sensitive and long-secret list of potential nuclear waste dumps, many of which are suspected of being in Scotland, has been delayed by the government in defiance of a plea from its own advisers.

The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which is drawing up a nuclear disposal strategy for ministers, had demanded that the list be released before the beginning of June. But it will not now be published before the middle of the month, after it has been checked by defence and environment officials in Whitehall.

CoRWM fears that the publicity generated by the release of the list could damage its attempts to win public confidence in its programme. It is considering whether radioactive waste should be stored above the ground, or buried in a deep underground repository, and is due to make recommendations to ministers next year.

Wildlife fears over plan for oil transfers in Forth

from Sunday Herald, 22 May 2005

MINISTERS are coming under mounting pressure to reject a plan to allow millions of tonnes of crude oil to be pumped between tankers near some of Scotland’s best wildlife and cleanest beaches.

UK's nuclear waste may go up in smoke

from New Scientist, 21 May 2005

BURNING tens of thousands of tonnes of waste graphite from the UK's nuclear power stations sounds like the last thing you should do, but that is exactly what is being considered by the UK government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). If the plan is carried out, any radioactive carbon released into the atmosphere could endanger people's health.

Revealed: the safety ‘failures’ at Dounreay

from Sunday Herald, 15 May 2005

THE nuclear complex at Dounreay has suffered more than 250 safety “failures” in the past six years, according to documents released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

Nuclear power: an investigation

from Sunday Herald, 15 May 2005

“WE nuclear people,” said US atomic pioneer Alvin Weinberg in 1972, “have made a Faustian bargain with society.” The deal was this: nuclear scientists gave us almost limitless electricity for our heaters, kettles and TVs, and all we had to accept in exchange was the ultimate risk of hell on earth.

Nuclear non-proliferation efforts faltering

from New Scientist, 11 May 2005

The world's attempts to stem the spread of nuclear bombs seem to be faltering, with new threats from Iran, dire warnings about North Korea and disarray at crucial international negotiations in New York.