By Professor John Robertson OBA
From BBC Scotland, today:
The lifespan of Scotland’s last remaining nuclear power station and three other plants in England are to be extended. EDF Energy says Torness, in East Lothian, and its sister site Heysham 2, in Lancashire, will continue generating for an extra two years until 2030.
Two other sites – Hartlepool and Heysham 1 – will continue for an extra year until 2027. The French state-owned company says it will now invest £1.3bn across its operational nuclear estate over the next three years.1
This decision has been taken to help with UK Labour’s allegedly ‘clean power mission’:
The UK government says the decision is a “strong endorsement” of its clean power mission.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband added: “These extensions are a major win for our energy independence.
“We can’t achieve clean power by 2030 without nuclear, which provides an all important steady supply of homegrown clean energy.”
This is dangerous. From Nuclear News Net in July 2024:
Rob Edwards, The Ferret, 22 July 24,
The number of cracks in the core of an ageing nuclear reactor at Torness in East Lothian has risen to 46, prompting warnings that prolonging its operation would be “gambling with public safety”.
The UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) told The Ferret that the cracks were detected in April 2024 and were “at the upper end of expectations”. The first three cracks were discovered at Torness in February 2022. July 21, 2024
ONR has previously said that spreading cracks could result in debris inhibiting the cooling of hot radioactive fuel. This can lead to a reactor meltdown, which can result in the escape of radioactivity to the environment.2
Do we know how dangerous this is?
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.
‘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.’
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brown_(Scottish_activis
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
It was clear from the BBC headline that it was a UK govt decision without having to actually say UK – if it had been a Scot Gov decision it would have undoubtedly contained the words warning, spokesperson defended, cracks, higher risk, neglect, mismanagement, studies show etc etc (ok, maybe too many words to cram into a heading but you know what i mean)
Keeping the English stations open will of course allow Labour to talk about the 2 way energy flow to justify all their pipes and pylons siphoning off our natural resources for a bit longer until they have their own turbines up and running
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“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”
Indeed , but who among the media , will pursue this on our behalf ?
Are all of our fellow citizens in Scotland asleep ?
As in Scotland our needs and wants are never considered or indeed fulfilled by any UK government.
This is the position we , within Scotland, always find ourselves in , all because we are still a part of their UK so subject to their reserved policies, but somehow some of our fellow citizens either do not see that as a continuous problem for Scotland or they just do not care.
Some of the Scottish public’s apparent apathy and detachment that then allows any UK government to implement what they decide is best for us in Scotland, irrespective of whether we want it or whether we need it.
(Safety be damned as if anything goes wrong then with a compliant media anything can then be blamed on ‘others’ as opposed to the UK government).
I think everybody on here, and those who are like us, are probably pig sick of the succession of various UK government’s bad decisions being made on our behalf , but because others in Scotland still vote for these parties who only serve WM as opposed to serving Scotland, then we all within Scotland must tolerate this bad and damaging behaviour as long as Scotland is still a part of their UK.
Today we are also hearing from the various , mostly clueless and biased , UK aka English media (as well as also hearing from the mostly clueless and biased media here too) who are prattling on about the Scottish budget, just like yearly they always prattle on about GERS, Drug deaths and indeed anything which is then always framed as being #SNPBAD .
Which is yet another thing I am pig sick of , but I and others like me all have to constantly endure this , as Scotland is unfortunately still a part of their UK , so we have to endure a dominant UK aka English media , which is based largely in England or in Scotland their HQ’s are based in England, who get to give their skewed opinions upon Scotland .
Which as skewed opinions is mostly within the category of disinformation, as it is mainly opinions sourced from the tittle tattle of those who very much dislike and also oppose the SNP , and so then are those who are also very much against Scottish independence.
This is a really really soul destroying position we, within Scotland, find ourselves in within the UK , but how and why do some of our fellow citizens in Scotland either fail to see this or refuse to see it , as in that which to us is so so so very clear and obvious to see.
(In fact it’s as plain as the nose on your face but only, that is , if you choose to not always bury your head in the sand or choose to always close your eyes to it all and just hope for the best).
Which within the UK will never happen, as the best for Scotland would be an independent Scotland , while the worse is what we have now with us still being a part of their UK, which it seems must also include being forced to continue to have nuclear power in Scotland.
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”Clean energy” from nuclear stations ? Orwell would be not be surprised by this statement from Government .
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https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/hypothyroidism/background-information/prevalence/#:~:text=A%20review%20of%20UK%20national,%2C%20White%20ethnicity%2C%20and%20obesity. “There was large geographical variation of treated hypothyroidism across the UK, with London having the lowest (1.4%) and the Western Isles of Scotland having the highest (6.3%) prevalence.”
A £ to a pail of turds that if the hypothyroidism figures for London were the same as the Western Isles, 6.3%, instead of 1.4%, everybody would have heard about it and no stone left unturned for a remedy. Scotland, brush it under the carpet.
Am I seeing the survival rate correct? I see it as, 90% in year one, 10 of your 100 have died in the first year. Another 15%, of the original 100 (?), will die in the next 4 years, leaving 75 to try and survive the next 5 years, but another 15% won’t. That leaves possibly 60 alive in year 10. A 40% mort rate adds to my nuclear discomfort.
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