Rob Edwards

Rising sea levels may destroy nuclear dump

from New Scientist, 28 June 2005

Rising sea levels caused by global warming could destroy the UK's only major nuclear waste dump in as little as 500 years, according to a report by the Environment Agency.

Licensed to kill: secret slaughter of protected species revealed

from Sunday Herald, 26 June 2005

TENS of thousands of endangered birds and mammals have been killed or controlled under secretive licences given out by the Scottish Executive over the past five years.

Fire up the new green fuel: wood

from Sunday Herald, 26 June 2005

AS many as one in 10 of Scotland’s homes could be heated by a humble new fuel that is renewable, affordable and could dramatically cut pollution – wood.

Major safety flaws uncovered at Torness plant

from Sunday Herald, 26 June 2005

AN accident at Torness nuclear power station in 2002, described at the time by British Energy as ‘‘vibration problems’’, was far more serious and highlighted major flaws in safety procedures, according to a nuclear watchdog report finally released last week.

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) has criticised managers at Torness for staff cutbacks, ‘‘ignorance’’, ‘‘communication problems’’ and failing to give safety a high priority. Some of the information the company provided to investigators was said to be “inaccurate or inconsistent”.

France to win huge nuclear fusion project

from New Scientist, 24 June 2005

A long and bitter dispute about where to site the world's largest nuclear fusion reactor looks all but certain to end in favour of France.

The Antarctic is melting far faster than we thought

from Sunday Herald, 19 June 2005

The Antarctic ice sheet contains 30 million billion tonnes of ice, four times more than all the fresh water in the rest of the world. Only a fraction of it has to melt to trigger a cataclysm.

Politics left UK nuclear waste plans in disarray

from New Scientist, 18 June 2005

SECRECY and political interference ensured that the UK's plans for disposing of its nuclear waste ended in failure. That is the verdict of a soul-searching report by Nirex, the government agency reponsible. It was published last week in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act made by New Scientist and others.

How not to deal with nuclear waste

comment, New Scientist, 18 June 2005

IT WOULD be difficult to think up a worse way of deciding where to put your nuclear waste. First, conduct the process in secret: lock the project's scientists behind closed doors and do not allow them to publish to their peers. Then, abandon science as a way to select suitable sites and choose instead a politically convenient location near a nuclear plant.

Legal action delays extension of M74 for another 12 months

from Sunday Herald, 12 June 2005

THE controversial £500 million plan to extend the M74 into Glasgow has been delayed for at least a year because of legal action launched by community groups and environmentalists.

The 'obscene' prospect of nuclear waste dumps

for Sunday Herald, 12 June 2005

From the window of his home on Barra, Donald Manford can see the small island of Fuday across the water. On Friday evening, he said, it was looking "peaceful and unperturbed - quite unaware of all the controversy that has been going on about it."

Fuday, just 250 hectares of rough grazing, shot into the headlines last week after it was outed as one of five sites in Scotland shortlisted as a potential dump for all Britain's nuclear waste. Unknown to anyone, the UK radioactive waste agency, Nirex, had planned to dig 26 huge caverns 500 metres under the island, along with a new harbour and causeway.

Unluckily for Barra and its thousand plus inhabitants, Nirex also had similar, secret plans for the island of Sandray just to the south, costing £1.8 billion over 50 years. "People are appalled that such things were considered," said Manford, the local councillor.

"That this organisation could talk about these things, organising, planning and plotting with peoples' lives without telling them - I think it is obscene."

Revealed: Britain's secret nuclear waste strategy

from Sunday Herald, 10 June 2005

A SHORTLIST of a dozen potential dumps for dangerous nuclear waste that has been kept secret for more than 15 years has today been unveiled in response to a freedom of Information request from the Sunday Herald.

Secret nuclear waste disposal sites revealed

from New Scientist, 10 June 2005

The highly sensitive shortlist of 12 sites where the UK nuclear industry wanted to dispose of its dangerous radioactive waste has been unveiled after being kept a closely guarded state secret for more than 15 years.