Articles and comment

Editorial

Long live the local energy revolution, Editorial, 14 August 2009

Nuclear Power and the Scottish Parliamentary Elections, Editorial, 23 October 2006

Nuclear power – to be or not to be?, Editorial, 3 August 2006

Let Battle Commence, Editorial, 7 December 2005

Nuclear Power? No Thanks!, Launch Editorial, 19 March 2005

Articles

Tom Burke is a Founding Director of E3G; he was Special Advisor to three Secretaries of State for the Environment from 1991-97 and was formerly Executive Director of Friends of the Earth. He has written extensively on nuclear power and climate change. See some of his most recent articles.

 

Mighty Mice - why microgeneration and energy efficiency are beating nukes by Amory Lovins, Nuclear Engineering International (December 2005)

This article by Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute is an attempt to help the nuclear industry better understand who its competitors are and why they’re winning, and provide a succinct summary of the major economic issues that should inform discussions of nuclear power.

 

The 1957 Windscale Fire: Some of the personal testimonies from people involved in the fire at Windscale, Sellafield, in 1957 and some statistics on estimates of the health impact of the fire. The plume of radioactive contamination spread across England into Holland and Germany and also across into Ireland. Compiled by Jean McSorley.

 

Nuclear Power? No Thanks!, a more detailed look at why we believe this site is needed.

Comment

New Nuclear at Bradwell is not Inevitable, Andrew Blowers argues that Bradwell is not a suitable site for a new nuclear power station.

UK goes mad for nukes, Pete Roche on the folly of a revival of the UK nuclear industry in the battle against climate change.

UK nuclear waste policy “incoherent and opaque” a guest post by Pete Roche in the blog at environmental website eco street.

UK’s nuclear consultation sham a guest post by Pete Roche in the blog at environmental website eco street.

Scotland: will the lights go out without new nuclear power stations? Advocates of new nuclear power stations in Scotland are using threats of power cuts to promote their cause. Graham Stein shows that these are unfounded scare tactics we've seen before.

Energy Review II: if your review gives the wrong answer, just order another one. Tony Blair may already have decided that the future's nuclear, but the case against nuclear power remains strong, argues Pete Roche.

Power for Scotland – The non-nuclear one. Claims that Scotland needs a new nuclear power stations to meet a shortfall in generating capacity are unfounded, argues Bill Robertson.

From the Archive ...

... a look back at some articles from the old SCRAM Safe Energy Journal still relevant today.

Scottish Power has been running a consultation about the idea of replacing Cockenzie coal-fired power station with a CCGT gas-fired station. This would be an ideal time for the City of Edinburgh Council to dust off the CHP feasibility study produced by a consortium, formed in 1984, of various organisation, including Edinburgh District Council. So we thought we'd dust off the SCRAM Safe Energy Journal article Edinburgh Heat Plans written by Councillor Richard Kerley in 1987.

Aluminium Foiled, SCRAM Energy Bulletin No.28 Feb/Mar 1982 (pdf, 204KB)
The sorry history of the Invergordon aluminium smelter project charts the slide into the nightmare of the white heat of technology. Nuclear power was supposed to provide cheap and reliable electricity for large aluminium smelters in remote areas. In reality nuclear power was expensive and unreliable.

Hunterston ‘B’, ‘a catastrophe we must not repeat’, SCRAM Energy Bulletin No.7 Aug/Sept 1978 (pdf, 1.2MB)

Opening day blues, SCRAM Safe Energy Journal 71, June/July ’89, on the opening of Torness nuclear power station, including that at a public inquiry into the SSEB's application to build a nuclear flask railhead at Torness, “it was estimated that 975 long-term cancer deaths would result from a 10% release of radioactivity, caused by a terrorist attack on a flask in the Niddrie area of Edinburgh. With flask movements. due to begin towards the end of this year, communities along the rail route are starting to worry.”

Scientifically speaking it’s just a lot of hot air, Greenpeace advert, SCRAM Safe Energy Journal 72, August/September ’89

World warms to nuclear power. Dr NIGEL MORTIMER’s look at the CO2 emissions from nulear power, SCRAM Safe Energy Journal 74, December ’89/January ’90

Tritium – the cause of leukaemias? IAN FAIRLIE considers the impacts of tritium emissions, Safe Energy 91, October/November 1992

Magnox gamma shine, IAN FAIRLIE argues that Britain’s ageing Magnox stations represented a serious health risk to workers, Safe Energy 95, June/July 1993

Government forces NRPB to back down, IAN FAIRLIE reported on proposals from the NRPB to tighten radiation dose limits, which could have led to nuclear plant closures, that were rejected by Government, Safe Energy 102, Autumn 1994

Nirex case didn’t hold water, RACHEL WESTERN outlined FoE’s case against Nirex’s plans to build a Rock Characterisation Facility in Cumbria, Safe Energy 112, March–May 1997

One hundred percent renewable, GORDON PROVEN has a vision, 100% renewable energy, Safe Energy 112, March–May 1997