:— Nuclear store
proposed
A public inquiry into storing spent nuclear fuel at the Torness nuclear reactor in East Lothian ended last week amid questions over the statutory consultation process carried out by Scottish Nuclear.
The seventeen-day inquiry examined the question of building a £54 million concrete ’dry store‘ to hold highly radioactive fuel. generated by the two reactors. Scottish Nuclear’s current policy is to transport the fuel to Sellafield in Cumbria where it would be reprocessed. generating huge volumes of extra radioactive waste.
However. Scottish Nuclear failed to take reprocessing into
Torness Nuclear Power Station
who did not take part in the inquiry. The only official objector was East Lothian District Council who are concerned that although the store is temporary. it is likely to become a
I permanent fixture on the East
consideration in their environmental
assessment to the inquiry. adding a two page addendum while it was in process. They will now have to re-run a sixteen-week consultation exercise into the assessment. This has raised doubts about the legality of the public inquiry. and will definitely call its findings into question.
The dry store would hold 1200 tonnes of spent fuel for anything up to a hundred years. Scottish Nuclear claim that storing as opposed to reprocessing the fuel would save them £45 million a year ifthey build two stores: one at Torness and the other at their Hunterston nuclear station in Ayrshire holding 800 tonnes ofspent fuel.
Ironically. on-site dry storage of spent nuclear fuel is the preferred option of the anti-nuclear lobby.
Lothian landscape. It is also becoming apparent that several legitimate concerns over the store‘s integrity did not get aired.
Scottish Nuclear say that there is no ultimate solution for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel. although Press Officer Chrystal] Forman points out
‘ that the dry store means that they do
not have to find one for another hundred years. ’We think that gives us more than adequate time to firm up on the ultimate solution,’ she
: said.
’Dry storage appears to be the least
hazardous and least expensive of the : damage limitations on offer,‘
according to Mike Townsley of the Scottish Campaign to Resist the
; Atomic Menace. ’but any approval, ' or rejection, of a dry store for
nuclear fuel must be preceded by an
end to the production of nuclear waste itself.‘ (Thom Dibdin)
DAMN, DAMNpAMN, MY CLOTHES HAT/E:-
SHRUNK AGAIN.
Mylo SHRIG-LEY
JOHN REICH
:- Rose tainted
The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, a touring collective of prolessional masochists from Seattle, have met with a stumbling block surrounding their proposed Edinburgh show at Wilkie House. The venue’s management, Edinburgh University Settlement, have decided not to accept the provisional booking tor the event on the grounds that it is not a suitable act torWilkie House.
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The Circus Sideshow, scenestealers at last year’s Stateside Lollapalooza lestival tour, and certainly the only show of its type in the Western world, court varying degrees at opposition wherever they travel. This is due to the nature oi their perlormance which includes such dubious delights as sell-torture-by-meat-sltewer, “non-incision surgery’, the consumption at maggots and the lilting ol heavy weights by means of books inserted to pierced bodily parts. The province oi Alberta in Canada has introduced a law banning the circus and a recent appearance on The Word elicited 600 viewer complaints while the average per show is normally 40.
Jim Rose, the Circus ringmaster and raconteur, asserts that the opposition stems lrom ignorance and defends his show, describing its nature as ‘combatting danger through skill’ and stressing its humorous element.
’As tar as I’m concerned,’ said Paul Cardou, acting on behalt oi Riverman, the show’s promoters tor the Scottish dates, ‘there is nothing in this show that could cause a legal or moral problem tor anyone. The circus has actually held a lew shows already in Britain and there have been no problems.‘
The Edinburgh date has now been moved to The Venue on Monday 22 February. The Glasgow show, scheduled for Sunday 21 February at Strathclyde University, remains unallected. (Fiona Shepherd)
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The List 29Januury-— l I l-‘cliruury IW.‘ 5