Industrial action to add days to 24 000 year clear-up of Scottish nuclear energy site and Scottish Labour want to extend that

Proud GMB member and champion of nuclear energy, Labour candidate Alan Gemmell.

The Dounreay waste shaft before the 1997 explosion
The Dounreay waste shaft after the 1997 explosion – Debris was projected over the boundary fence on to the sea shore, lead sheeting was thrown over the security fence and two six-metre scaffolding poles were found outside the fence, one 40 metres [130 feet] away on the beach. The windows of the control room were also shattered and asbestos weather shields surrounding the shaft and a 20ft length of the nearby security fence were extensively damaged. About 50 spots of ground contamination were found to the north of the shaft and pieces of asbestos were discovered up to 75 metres [245 feet] away.

From BBC Scotland today:

More than 500 members of the Unite union at the Dounreay nuclear power complex have voted to strike in a dispute over pay.

The workers, who will take action on Wednesday, have rejected the latest offer to resolve the matter.

Meanwhile, the Prospect union said in a close ballot its members had voted to accept the deal, and the GMB union said the result of its vote was expected later but expected to back strike action.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5nnl9vjzeo

While it is always disturbing to hear of industrial conflict in a nuclear plant, these two-day strikes will, relatively speaking, make little difference to the decommissioning process.

Why?

Decommissioning began in 2019 and the plan envisages 50-60 years to complete but ‘complete’ doesn’t mean to the company, Magnox Ltd., what it means to most of us and the site will be under surveillance, i.e. not usable, for at least another 300 years or 110 000 days[i].

However, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, one of the most dangerous elements, left on the soil, Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24 000 years.[ii]

How much will the decommissioning cost? According to World Nuclear News in 2019, £400 million,[iii] but 5 years later, according to the Northern Times in April 2024, £7.9 billion![iv]

Researchers based at Oxford University, reporting conveniently for some political forces, in July 2014, revisited earlier studies of the incidence of leukaemia around Sellafield and Dounreay and concluded that children, teenagers and young adults currently living close to Sellafield and Dounreay were not at an increased risk of developing cancers. 

The researchers, dependent upon UK Government grants for their survival, notably downplayed two earlier studies finding a raised risk of leukaemia among 0–14 and 15-24 year-olds, living within 12.5 km of Dounreay during the period 1979–1984[i] and in a subsequent study in 1996, reported an excess of childhood leukaemia and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) within 25 km of Dounreay for the period 1968–1993.[ii]

The researchers do not tell us just how many cases, how many more children and young adults than expected, had developed these often-deadly cancers, but 1 287 cases near seven nuclear sites in Scotland were looked at in the second study. Around Dounreay, almost twice as many cases as expected were found. The difference was greatest around Dounreay but even if we share the 1 287 between the seven sites, we get around 180 cases near Dounreay, of which half or 90, might not have occurred if the plant had never been built. To, me that’s ‘significant’ and I feel sure it was for them and their families.

With every passing month, it becomes clearer that Scottish Labour must reconsider its plans for a nuclear Scotland.

[i] Heasman MA, Kemp IW, Urquhart JD, Black R. Childhood leukaemia in northern Scotland. Lancet. 1986;327 (8475:266.

[ii] Sharp L, Black RJ, Harkness EF, McKinney PA. Incidence of childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the vicinity of nuclear sites in Scotland, 1968–93. Occup Environ Med. 1996;53 (12:823–831.

[i] https://www.neimagazine.com/features/featuredounreay-site-restoration-plan/

[ii] https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html

[iii] https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Dounreay-decommissioning-framework-contracts-award

[iv] https://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/new-end-date-at-dounreay-will-mean-a-spend-of-7-9bn-347604/

13 thoughts on “Industrial action to add days to 24 000 year clear-up of Scottish nuclear energy site and Scottish Labour want to extend that”

  2. Westminster Gov spends £13Billion a year decommissioning nuclear. Over ten years. £130Billion. Increasing all the time. £Billions wasted on Hinkley Point. Over budget and time. No Trade union should be supporting nuclear. Or Labour hypocrites.

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  3. RISHI Sunak has mentioned “Scottish Nationalists” in a major speech referring to the “extremist” threats facing the UK…..meanwhile we are all old enough to remember when the Tories, under Theresa May as PM, sought an agreement with the DUP.

    Where she made an “Extreme” kind of decision in giving one billion pounds, as a bribe to the DUP, in return for their support in the HOC to help her government win/pass votes in there………post the 2017 GE when she , as the new Tory leader, lost them their Tory majority that they, as a party, previously had before she called that 2017 GE…….

    That’s the DUP, the same ones,, that many see as ones you could categorise as “Extremists” via their sectarian staunch beliefs…..which fall under the slogan of ‘No surrender’….that’s a bit extreme…. surely.

    We, who support independence, are one of the most peaceful movements considering all of constant abuse, hostility and ignorance we are subjected to via an ‘Extreme’ pro UK hostile media and an even more hostile political opposition from pro UK parties…like Rishi Sunak’s Tory party.

    Yet we are now , via Sunak, categorised as supposed “extremists” by a Tory leader and PM whose own party has been the focal point for most of the ‘Extreme‘ political scandals and negative publicity within the UK.

    Tory controversial policies, cronyism, waste of public money, farcical mismanaged Tory government projects which are over budget and overdue e.g. HS2 (one of many #Fails) , whose government ministers and MP’s have used “extremist” language to describe those others that they seek to target and blame for their own party’s (government’s) failings and shortcomings ……..

    But…..let’s be honest here the ones who are really risking the UK being a continued state….are people like Rishi Sunak & also his party….. who as a party have governed the UK via a succession of governments ‘steeped in chaos, scandals , incompetence & mismanagement’ via a succession of useless and ‘Extreme’ Tory leaders & PM’s (like Johnson & Truss)…..and now Sunak too….who as a Tory PM is seen , via the polls, as a ‘dead man walking’ kind of PM….

    I mean who in their right mind would want to remain a part of a UK (over) ruled by the likes of them……with high energy bills, high food costs, loss of EU membership, high interest rates impacting mortgages, failing and underfunded NHS in England , failing and underfunded Education system in England, failing Care sector in England, aircraft carriers unable to sail the seas thus not fit for purpose, betrayal of Farmers & Fisherman post Brexit, unable to address the ever increasing Knife crime in England …..I could go on and on…..but that would be perhaps too “extreme” to highlight all of the Tory party, under various governments, being those, as a party, culpable in overseeing excessive damage in their UK and thus being seen as ‘Extremely” useless as (various) governments under (various) incompetent and ‘Extreme’ leaders and PM’s……

    Where ,with one particular Tory leader (& PM) …….who resigned as PM after seven weeks…….after she crashed the economy, she sank the pound, put pensions in peril which now many working people are paying the price for……which as an act , was one that was most definitely, as an action, 100% an “Extremist” one (ironic too as all of this was done via her and her chosen Chancellor’s mini budget…but the result of that budget saw major negative ‘Extreme’ consequences for the UK’s economy)

    Scottish Nationalists…“Extremists” ?

    That’s like Mussolini calling Mother Theresa a Fascist , which as an analogy, is perfect when we hear the likes of Tory PM Sunak calling others, like us, “Extremists”……what a Jeremy Hunt he truly is……

    I think we all know who, via politics, are the real “Extremists” in Sunak’s UK…..and his, Sunak’s, speech was a classic Tory PM speech projecting his own party’s guilt and failures upon others and too very much his own failings as a weak Tory leader (& PM)…..and thus giving us in Scotland, who support Scottish independence, another reason to add to a now huge list of reasons why people like us reject his “extreme” version of his UK (and his party)….and instead would prefer a more stable and successful kind of government (minus the constant hostile interference and propaganda input that we currently see/hear/read about from both the UK media and UK politicians) and too a more stable and successful country that has no place for “Extremists” views via the UK media or “Extremist” policies and language via pro UK political parties like the Tory party…and others as well……

    So he, Sunak, can stick that right up his Tory pipe and smoke it….

    I’ll give him “Extremists”.…what a ***** (rhymes with Granny)…..LOL

    NMRN

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  7. Pingback: Inspectors raise Scottish nuclear plant with excess child leukaemia risk to an ‘enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because of unsatisfactory site performance across numerous areas’ with 300 years to go until it’s ‘sa
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  9. Pingback: Inspectors raise Scottish nuclear plant with excess child leukaemia risk to an ‘enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because of unsatisfactory site performance across numerous areas’ with 300 years to go until it’s ‘sa
  10. Pingback: Inspectors raise Scottish nuclear plant with excess child leukaemia risk to an ‘enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because of unsatisfactory site performance across numerous areas’ with 300 years to go until it’s ‘sa
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  12. Pingback: Inspectors raise Scottish nuclear plant with excess child leukaemia risk to an ‘enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because of unsatisfactory site performance across numerous areas’ with 300 years to go until it’s ‘sa
  13. Pingback: Inspectors raise Scottish nuclear plant with excess child leukaemia risk to an ‘enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because of unsatisfactory site performance across numerous areas’ with 300 years to go until it’s ‘sa

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