Scotland wants no part in further dangerous nuclear experiments

In 1987, I attended a Venstre political conference in Norway where Professor Torbjorn Sikkeland, the distinguished nuclear physicist and radiation biophysicist, explained, with illustrations, that nuclear fuels and nuclear waste would never be safely or securely contained: they are simply too corrosive.
At the same conference, Professor Sikkeland also declared that it was accepted by his colleagues that hydrogen was the answer to world energy needs but it was unlikely to emerge as an option while the nuclear lobby stood in the way of necessary research and investment.
READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: Why I can't trust carbon capture or nuclear power to save us
30 years later, radiation corrosion still plagues nuclear reactors wherever and however they are built; there is still no safe containment for the corrosive nature of nuclear waste In 2025, however, despite the 40-year-old commitment to the common sense and morality of the Flowers Report, we now have a desperate government in Westminster: economically bankrupt, at the mercy of whatever corporate lobbyists come their way.
Together, inexplicably, with the GMB, thrashing about for some sort of apparent direction, they have lurched towards another dangerous white nuclear elephant at Sizewell which, like EDF at Hinkley Point, no private enterprise will touch without massive, foolish government guarantees of unlimited funding – no matter how much overspend is required. Unquantifiable costs include decommissioning and waste disposal.
The well-documented, appalling environmental consequences of uranium mining and nuclear dumps like the Dounreay Shaft and Drigg in Cumbria are clear evidence against the latest surge of pressure from the nuclear lobby. And Orkney and Galloway will remember that they are already targeted as 'sacrificial communities' for both uranium mining and high-level nuclear waste dumps.
READ MORE: Energy minister 'won't apologise' for investment in nuclear power
For nuclear waste, as we were warned, there is still no solution beyond digging deep holes in order to hide it – out of sight and out of irresponsible minds – for other generations to deal with. On this issue, the Flowers Report's references to morality are clearly lost on the current Westminster Labour administration.
Furthermore, their increasingly desperate shrieks, demanding that the Holyrood government allows them to use Scotland for more nuclear reactors, missiles and nuclear waste, demonstrate very powerfully that Scotland is now firmly on a totally different political, cultural, economic, and environmental course.
With EU support, our commitment to sustainable energy production is already far better established: we export more electricity than we can use; and we are working on the green hydrogen solution to storage which – were we already independent – would surely have precluded the Westminster-funded, profiteering cowboys currently playing around with potentially lethal lithium battery storage all over the Highlands.
Westminster, flailing around with post-Brexit bankruptcy, does not have a meaningful energy, environment or defence policy: it has just broadcast its latest version of panicky, ridiculous and dangerous ideas. Scotland should have nothing to do with them – but continue calmly with policies which bypass more failed nuclear experiments and the production of nuclear waste that no-one, still, knows how to contain.
Frances McKie
Evanton

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Scotland wants no part in further dangerous nuclear experiments

In 1987, I attended a Venstre political conference in Norway where Professor Torbjorn Sikkeland, the distinguished nuclear physicist and radiation biophysicist, explained, with illustrations, that nuclear fuels and nuclear waste would never be safely or securely contained: they are simply too corrosive. At the same conference, Professor Sikkeland also declared that it was accepted by his colleagues that hydrogen was the answer to world energy needs but it was unlikely to emerge as an option while the nuclear lobby stood in the way of necessary research and investment. READ MORE: Tommy Sheppard: Why I can't trust carbon capture or nuclear power to save us 30 years later, radiation corrosion still plagues nuclear reactors wherever and however they are built; there is still no safe containment for the corrosive nature of nuclear waste In 2025, however, despite the 40-year-old commitment to the common sense and morality of the Flowers Report, we now have a desperate government in Westminster: economically bankrupt, at the mercy of whatever corporate lobbyists come their way. Together, inexplicably, with the GMB, thrashing about for some sort of apparent direction, they have lurched towards another dangerous white nuclear elephant at Sizewell which, like EDF at Hinkley Point, no private enterprise will touch without massive, foolish government guarantees of unlimited funding – no matter how much overspend is required. Unquantifiable costs include decommissioning and waste disposal. The well-documented, appalling environmental consequences of uranium mining and nuclear dumps like the Dounreay Shaft and Drigg in Cumbria are clear evidence against the latest surge of pressure from the nuclear lobby. And Orkney and Galloway will remember that they are already targeted as 'sacrificial communities' for both uranium mining and high-level nuclear waste dumps. READ MORE: Energy minister 'won't apologise' for investment in nuclear power For nuclear waste, as we were warned, there is still no solution beyond digging deep holes in order to hide it – out of sight and out of irresponsible minds – for other generations to deal with. On this issue, the Flowers Report's references to morality are clearly lost on the current Westminster Labour administration. Furthermore, their increasingly desperate shrieks, demanding that the Holyrood government allows them to use Scotland for more nuclear reactors, missiles and nuclear waste, demonstrate very powerfully that Scotland is now firmly on a totally different political, cultural, economic, and environmental course. With EU support, our commitment to sustainable energy production is already far better established: we export more electricity than we can use; and we are working on the green hydrogen solution to storage which – were we already independent – would surely have precluded the Westminster-funded, profiteering cowboys currently playing around with potentially lethal lithium battery storage all over the Highlands. Westminster, flailing around with post-Brexit bankruptcy, does not have a meaningful energy, environment or defence policy: it has just broadcast its latest version of panicky, ridiculous and dangerous ideas. Scotland should have nothing to do with them – but continue calmly with policies which bypass more failed nuclear experiments and the production of nuclear waste that no-one, still, knows how to contain. Frances McKie Evanton

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