By Professor John Robertson OBA

From The National on 9 July 2024:

SCOTTISH Secretary Ian Murray has repeatedly refused to say the new UK Labour government will not overrule its devolved counterpart to see nuclear projects built in Scotland. The Labour MP was speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland on Tuesday when he was pushed on whether the UK Government under Keir Starmer might step in to force through planning decisions, despite the area being devolved to Holyrood.

Murray repeatedly refused to rule out any planning decisions being taken by the UK Government over the heads of local people or devolved representatives. Instead, he said it was “really important” for Labour to deliver on pledges in its manifesto – which includes promises to “end a decade of dithering” and build new nuclear power stations.

^{https://www.thenational.scot/news/24439687.ian-murray-labour-will-look-build-nuclear-plants-scotland/}

From peer-reviewed research journal, Environmental Health on 29 November 2024:

Ionizing radiation is a human carcinogen, and there is a public concern but limited evidence that it increases the incidence of cancer among those who live near nuclear power plants (NPPs). Previous analyses of thyroid cancer in these populations have been inconsistent, and the last synthesis was published nearly a decade ago. To address these gaps, we undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis.

A search strategy was developed and applied to PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. A total of 2006 publications were identified, with 11 studies of thyroid cancer incidence that met the inclusion criteria. 

Overall, the findings suggest that living near a nuclear power plant increases the risk of thyroid cancer. The small number of studies on this topic, and the finding of higher risks in studies less prone to bias highlights the need for better-designed studies.

^{https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-024-01143-6}

Note, jumping out at me, the researchers found that in better studies higher risks were identified.

Remember, the onus is not upon us to prove that nuclear power plants are dangerous but upon them to prove they are safe before building them. Thus the ‘small number of studies’ is not a reason to allow building enough of a warning to stop them.

Survival in Scotland?

Thyroid cancer is a rare cancer in Scotland [250 – 300 cases] with a generally good prognosis. Survival rates are high, with around 90% of people surviving for at least one year after diagnosis, and 85% surviving for at least five years.

^{https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/thyroid-cancer/survival#:~:text=men%20and%20women:-,1%20year%20survival,and%205%20year%20survival%20statistics}

‘Good’ prognosis? One year survival for 90%? 5 years for 5 years?

For a cancer you might not have got if you did not live near a power station?

Try telling those folks just ‘surviving.’