Rob Edwards

Nuclear accident exercise reveals ‘fatal flaws’

from Sunday Herald, 30 April 2006

MISTAKES made during a major nuclear accident exercise held in Edinburgh last year would have left casualties trapped in vehicles and spread deadly radioactive contamination, an official report has revealed.

Shareholder rails against Forth oil transfer plan

from Sunday Herald, 30 April 2006

THE rising cacophony of protest against plans to pump millions of tonnes of Russian crude oil between ships in the Firth of Forth will this week find a powerful new voice. Opposition will surface for the first time among shareholders of Forth Ports, the £850 million harbour company promoting the plans.

Iran's nukes - more politics than reality

from New Scientist, 29 April 2006

IRAN'S President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called it a "historic" breakthrough. His scientists, he claimed on 11 April, had completed the nuclear fuel cycle by enriching uranium for nuclear power plants. Western leaders warned that Iran had taken another dangerous step towards acquiring nuclear weapons and that it must be stopped.

Bury your nuclear waste, UK advised

from New Scientist, 27 April 2006

The UK government has been advised by an official panel to dispose of nuclear waste by burying it deep underground – the same solution it has already rejected three times over the last 30 years.

Nailed: the lie about Chernobyl's death toll

comment, 25 April 2006

The message was pretty clear. "Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident" was the headline. "UN report provides definitive answers" said the subheading. And then, the opening paragraph:

"A total of up to four thousand people could eventually die of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident nearly 20 years ago, an international team of more than 100 scientists has concluded."

Only one problem: it wasn't true.

Revealed: fears over radioactive food threat

from Sunday Herald, 23 April 2006

PLANS to increase emissions of radioactive waste from Scotland’s two nuclear power stations would contaminate food in breach of safety limits, the government’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned.

If Chernobyl had been in Scotland...

23 April 2006

If one of Scotland's nuclear power stations exploded like Chernobyl did 20 years ago this week, vast areas of the country would become uninhabitable and thousands of people would have to be evacuated.

Transport agency ignores climate change

23 April 2006

The new business plan for Transport Scotland, the government agency in charge of road and rail, has been labelled "mince" because it fails to tackle climate-wrecking pollution.

Traffic target ditched

20 April 2006

Scottish ministers have confirmed that they are ditching their target to "stabilise" the volume of road traffic at 2001 levels by 2021 because they have failed to stem rising car use. The Scottish Executive's transport strategy, launched today, says that "it would be desirable to replace" the target. You read it here first.

Nuclear ‘won’t plug power gap’

from Sunday Herald, 16 April 2006

Tony Blair’s ambitions for nuclear power have been given another roasting, this time by MPs from his own party. A programme to build new reactors would be fraught with risks and could not plug the electricity gap, concludes a report by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.

Euro inquest over ‘illegal’ killing of hares

from Sunday Herald, 16 April 2006

THE European Commission is investigating a complaint by a former police officer that Scotland is breaking the law by allowing landowners to kill mountain hares.

Leading scientists attack Blair over nuclear power

from Sunday Herald, 09 April 2006

TONY Blair’s plan to resurrect nuclear power is going to be dealt a damaging blow by 40 of Britain’s leading energy and climate scientists, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

Information tsar slams Executive plans to charge for freedom of information

from Sunday Herald, 09 April 2006

PLANS by ministers to claw back Scotland’s far-reaching freedom of information reforms have been rejected by the nation’s information tsar, Kevin Dunion.

How many more lives will Chernobyl claim?

from New Scientist, 6 April 2006

THE cloud of radiation spewed out by the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl 20 years ago could kill up to 60,000 people - 15 times as many as officially estimated. So say scientists who are accusing two UN organisations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), of downplaying the impact of the accident.

Executive’s plan to cut traffic hits a dead end

from Sunday Herald, 02 April 2006

MINISTERS are quietly preparing to ditch their landmark promise to cut the growth in road traffic because they have failed to stem the unrelenting rise in car use.

Pollution plagues Scotland’s water

from Sunday Herald, 02 April 2006

MORE than 160 rivers and lochs across Scotland are being damaged by pollution from sewers, farms and salmon cages, according to a new analysis by the government’s environment watchdog.