Professor John Robertson OBA

UK Labour‘s electricity-demanding creature Ed Milliband has clearly seen this:

Roughly half of the SNP’s voters believe nuclear power should be part of Scotland’s mix of clean energy generation, a poll suggests, despite the party’s longstanding opposition to it. Polling for the campaign group Britain Remade, founded by a former energy and climate adviser to Boris Johnson, found 52% of those who voted for the party in 2021 believe nuclear power should be included in Scotland’s energy mix to meet the 2045 net zero target.

Meanwhile, 57% of those who voted for the party in last year’s general election felt the same way, the poll found. READ MORE: ‘Panic’ change of nuclear policy would make ‘SNP as bad as Tories’, MSP warns A total of 56% of Scots thought nuclear power should be part of Scotland’s clean energy mix to meet the targets, while 23% disagreed, and 21% said they did not know.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/25129571.poll-around-half-snp-voters-back-nuclear-power-energy-mix/

They haven’t just seen it. They helped to write it:

Britain Remade is not a registered charity or political party, so it has limited disclosure requirements under UK law. It emphasizes cross-party engagement (e.g., quoting Labour’s Ed Miliband and Anas Sarwar in campaign materials).

So, maybe some on the electoral roll have been taken in but if they have and you know some of them, make sure they read this:

How many childhood cancers were caused by refuelling at this Ayrshire nuclear power station?

As the authorities approve [15 September 2025] the progress in reducing hazard at the Hunterston B nuclear site in North Ayrshire, I’m deeply suspicious and reminded of the harm that was done over 45 years.

Hunterston B Nuclear power station, in North Ayrshire, Scotland, was in operation for nearly 45 years, from February 1976 until November 2021.¹

In that time, there will have been around 30 re-fuelling instances² and up to 300 inspections.³

During these events, there are spikes of radioactive emissions. Researchers in Germany, published this in 2011:

According to the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in Germany, the normal emission concentration during the rest of the year is about 3 kBq/m³, but during inspection/refuelling (in the afternoon and evening of September 22nd) this concentration abruptly increased to ~700 kBq/m³ with a peak of 1,470 kBq/m³. In the following days (September 22nd – 29th), the concentrations of released radioactive noble gases were still much higher (average = 100 kBq/m³) than during normal power operation.

In order to refuel, reactor pressure vessels must be opened which releases to the local environment very large volumes of radioactive gases and vapours, including noble gases, H-3 (tritium),  carbon-14, and iodine-131.  Until now, the nuclide amounts were only published as annual averages throughout the world. Now, after requests by IPPNW and the Green Party in the Bavarian State Parliament (Landtag), non-averaged values have been made available for scientific evaluation for the very first time anywhere in the world.⁴

What consequences might there be from these spikes, 500 times the supposed safe level, over several days, for the population around nuclear power stations such as Hunterston B in North Ayrshire or, indeed from any new installations if UK Labour gets its way on this?

From Dr Ian Fairlie in 2014:

On 23rd August, The Ecologist published very clear evidence of increased cancers among children living near nuclear power stations around the world, including the UK.

The story sparked much interest on social media sites, and perhaps more importantly, the article’s scientific basis (published in the academic peer-reviewed scientific journal the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity) was downloaded over 500 times by scientists.

Given this level of interest and the fact that the UK government is still pressing ahead with its bizarre plans for more nuclear stations, we return to this matter – and examine in more detail an important aspect which has hitherto received little attention: massive spikes in radioactive emissions from nuclear reactors.⁵

What is the evidence, specifically for Ayrshire and other parts of Scotland upwind of Hunterston B?

I can find no precise, local data, but from Public Health Scotland, in 2023:

The rate, or risk, of new cancers [in Scotland] also increased to 644 per 100,000. ⁶

The average level of cancer cases in Europe is only 280 per 100 000 compared with 640 in Scotland. In North America, it’s 364.7 and in Oceania (Australia, NZ), it’s 409. ⁷

Scotland is clearly the cancer capital of the world. Why is that not news?

And England, most of it further way from Sellafield and Trident than most Scots are? From the Gov UK site, the rate is 540 per 100 000,⁸ also very high globally but significantly lower than in Scotland at 640.

And before you say it – Scots smoke more? No they don’t.

15% of Scots smoke.⁹ Fewer than in most European countries.¹⁰

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunterston_B_nuclear_power_station
2. https://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2016/03/23/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new-fuel/#:~:text=How%20often%20are%20nuclear%20plants%20refueled%3F%20Most%20nuclear,it%20minimizes%20the%20impact%20to%20the%20electricity%20grid.
3. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/oversight.html#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%20NRC%20specialists%20conduct%2010%20to%2025,at%20the%20plants%20and%20issues%20that%20may%20occur.
4. https://www.ippnw.eu/en/nuclear-energy-and-security/artikel/85877f0d9c07a9c13e7729feef095980/spikes-of-radioactive-emissions-dur.html
5. https://theecologist.org/2014/sep/29/radioactive-spikes-nuclear-plants-likely-cause-childhood-leukemia
6. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-incidence-in-scotland/cancer-incidence-in-scotland-to-december-2021
7. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Cancer_statistics#Deaths_from_cancer
8. https://www.statista.com/statistics/312961/new-cancer-cases-rate-england-age-gender/#:~:text=Cancer%20is%20an%20aggregation%20of,excluding%20non%2Dmelanoma%20skin%20cancer
9. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-health-survey-2022-volume-1-main-report/pages/11/#:~:text=As%20noted%20above%2C%20in%202022,%25%20and%2013%25%20respectively).
10. https://www.euronews.com/health/2023/08/14/smoking-in-europe-which-countries-are-the-most-and-least-addicted-to-tobacco-and-vaping#:~:text=According%20to%20data%20compiled%20by,smoked%20fewer%20than%2020%20units.

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