By Frances McKie

It is now, in April 2026, exactly 40 years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor exploded.

The explosion sent radioactive pollution vast distances across Europe; it devastated a large area near Kiev in the Ukraine-still too dangerous for human habitation; it has left a long-term legacy of thyroid and other cancers linked to radiation exposure and ingestion of isotopes like Iodine 131.  In 2026, the “sarcophagus” eventually built over the reactor in the hope of containing the radiation has deteriorated and the second covering has now been damaged by a drone attack. Next year, 2027, will be the 70^th anniversary of the terrible explosion and fire at Windscale/ Sellafield in Cumbria which sent similar clouds of radiation  across Europe: Sellafield- where cooling ponds  for nuclear waste leak constantly into the groundwater, is now classed as the most dangerous nuclear site in Europe- if not the world. 

2026 is also the 50^th anniversary of the attempt by the SSEB and UKAEA to turn Yesnaby in Orkney into a Uranium Mine; it is the 50^th Anniversary of the attempt by the Westminster Government to turn Mullwharchar in Galloway into a High Level Nuclear Waste Dump; it is 40 years since the attempt by  the UKAEA and BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels) to build a Fast Reactor Reprocessing Plant at Dounreay in Caithness; it is also 40 years since an attempt was made. despite international treaties against such pollution,  to turn Stormy Bank near Hoy in Orkney into a subsea nuclear waste dump.

These anniversaries are a powerful reminder of the unsolved problems of nuclear reactors: the thousands of years of containment required for nuclear waste;  the corrosive power of radiation so that, in fact, reactors are plagued with corrosion and no method of secure containment of nuclear waste is possible; the awful consequences of human error and military attack.

Half a century after it started trying to find answers, the nuclear industry still has none: it has reverted- along with the UK government -to the 50 year old criminally  irresponsible gambit of burial- out of sight and out of mind- dumping the awful consequences of leakage- and worse- on to future generations- for thousands of years.

In 2026, with such anniversaries and reminders, ignorance is not an excuse. The public inquiry at Dounreay revealed the awful truth about the mess there, the lethal particles of nuclear spent fuel irretrievably dumped on Caithness beaches and seabed- more or less forever. Chernobyl and Sellafield have shown that nuclear containment is impossible; the uranium inquiry in Orkney heard about the devastation and suffering of communities in the USA and Australia forced to accept uranium mines on their land. At this minute the Sami people in Sweden are facing the same awful threat Orkney fought so hard against in 1976.

Nuclear power is not just about reactors- whatever their size. At both ends of this industry- and its powerful lobby- there are huge problems of  environmental  destruction. In half a century, nothing has changed: there are no solutions- just a lethally arrogant and irresponsible determination to press ahead- hoping that we will all join in dumping the horrors of YellowCake Pollution, corrosion,  leaking nuclear waste  and the certainty that Fukushima will not be the last  nuclear disaster- “out of sight and out of mind”.

For these reasons,  and while the Westminster government digs itself ever deeper into deals with the nuclear lobby, I hope every political candidate for Holyrood will,  in the last weeks of the election campaign, be asked about their position on all the aspects of nuclear power- from uranium mining to nuclear waste.

Exactly where will the uranium come from? Exactly where and how will nuclear waste be treated for thousands of years?  On which exact communities- anywhere in the world- should the nuclear industry be allowed to dump its activities?

Especially for any candidate who supports the nuclear lobby, this s surely a vital test of integrity and moral responsibility.

40 years after Chernobyl and the Dounreay Inquiry,  they should be made to answer.

Frances McKie