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 70th 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 50th anniversary of the attempt by the SSEB and UKAEA to turn Yesnaby in Orkney into a Uranium Mine; it is the 50th 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
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The candidates certainly should be asked what they intend to do about energy security for Scotland. Anyone shilling for the nuclear industry deserves to get nil points.
Dump the waste on the clay beds around London. I hear that is the best solution.
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Thanks Frances, a really great report.
Was Windscale 70yrs ago? I think it must’ve been round about 40years ago? I might just be reading the timescales incorrectly…
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10 October 1957.
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It was in October 1957. There’s lots of material about it ..I did try to share a link but I am not good at that! Theres a film ” Windscale Nuclear Laundry” we used to show at meetings in Caithness and Orkney.
Source: YouTube https://share.google/oBXIfaRLCKuyDZSDJ
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Hi John,the below is what you have been saying for a long time about time these two would be leaders were called out. SNH figures
Watchdog raps Anas Sarwar and Wes Streeting over Scottish NHS claim
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I’ve often been ‘puzzled’ by how those of a right wing, neo-liberal persuasion – and typically pro-nuclear energy – that rile against increasing the UK’s national debt which is present in a spreadsheet, as this debt – so their argument goes – passes on a very harmful legacy to our children and grandchildren. This is framed as ethically unacceptable!
Yet the same individuals never seem to reflect in similar terms on the legacy of increasing the volume of the UK’s nuclear waste and all that will come to lie in the toxic dump that is Sellafield (and potentially elsewhere), a dangerous burden for multiple generations to come.
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“Half a century after it started trying to find answers to to the problem of containment, the nuclear industry still has none”
Indeed.
However we also need to “find answers” to the “problem” of trying to contain Jackie Baillie from constantly spinning her lies.
Recently Malcolm Offord and also the ex Tory MSP who defected to Reform UK, Graham Simpson, both said that Anas Sarwar had approached them saying that they should work with him to try to oust the SNP. (translated that meant ‘try to make him the next FM).
Now Baillie has been reported as saying , in her ‘unique’ interpretation aka wrong interpretation (aka playing politics again) that in the SNP promoting what Labour call “smears and misinformation” that:
“Swinney was being dishonest … to say he’d have nothing to do with Reform when the SNP are ploughing money behind a Lord Offord advert promoting his lies about Anas Sarwar”.
Also she said that “: “John Swinney and the SNP should look themselves in the mirror and consider whether their desperate attempts to join forces with Reform to try and smear Anas Sarwar is morally the right thing to do.”
(That of course is not what the SNP are doing, indeed that is actually Baillie using “misinformation” and also trying to “smear” both the SNP and John Swinney)
However let’s have a look at what Baillie recently did that was reported in April 2026 that left her “red faced”.
“Jackie Baillie left red-faced after blazing attack on SNP backfires spectacularly”
“She, Baillie, launched a blazing attack on the SNP over a campaign slogan – apparently forgetting that Keir Starmer had used the exact same one”
“Baillie launched the broadside after the SNP published a video urging people to register to vote in the May elections and back John Swinney’s party”.
In the video, the presenter says: “Who decides how this country is run? Is it WM which broke the system and expects you to just live with it? Or do we do things differently? It’s time to take back control of our own future.”
“In response, Baillie issued a press release through Scottish Labour attacking the SNP over the use of the words “take back control” – which was the slogan used by the Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum and said to have been coined by Boris Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings”.
“Scottish Labour claimed the SNP were “aping Boris Johnson”, while Baillie said: “This proves that the SNP and Reform are just two sides of the same coin, both happy to adopt divisive slogans which seek to divide our communities“
“Not content with parroting the lies of Lord [Malcolm] Offord – a man who endorsed racist adverts and a candidate who called for all British Muslims to be deported – the SNP have now also stolen the slogan used by Brexiteers.”
(Wait until Baillie finds out what the new Labour Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has been saying that she intends to do with Asylum seekers where she intends to make “refugee protection temporary and subject to review every 30 months” and “increasing the wait for permanent settlement to 20 years” and “Family reunion is restricted, often made conditional on the refugee’s ability to support them financially and their participation in a new work and study route” and the purpose of these changes (and also other Labour changes to the asylum system) is to ensure that these “reforms aim to crack down on the immigration system”).
Baillie added: “The SNP are now copying the far-right playbook by promoting lies and pushing grievance in a desperate attempt to talk about anything other than their dismal record – even if that means taking the side of a bigot.”
However, the “take back control” slogan was explicitly used by Keir Starmer long before it was echoed by the SNP”.
“In 2023, the BBC ran the headline: “Keir Starmer embraces Brexit slogan with ‘take back control‘ pledge.”
“It reported on the then-leader of the opposition promising to introduce a “Take Back Control Bill” if elected into power in the 2024 General Election”
“The Labour leader has also deployed the slogan in various other contexts, including saying “We will take back control of our borders” in May 2025 and “Labour will take back control of our national energy security” one year before that”.
“What’s more, Scottish Labour have also deployed the slogan themselves, writing in a social media post in February: “A Scottish Labour government will reduce the number of quangos by at least a third. We will cut duplication. We will take back control.”
“Scottish Labour did not respond when asked if Baillie was also accusing Starmer of being “happy to adopt divisive slogans”.
Honestly Baillie needs to learn that if she intends to keep deploying gutter politics, then she should at least try to get her facts right, or some other voters (as well as us on here) might begin to think that she is willing to do and say anything to try to help Labour (undeservedly) win , even to the extent of making a complete numpty of herself.
Liz S
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