Tag: science

3 Comments

US research finds cancer mortality rate over 40% higher than the national rate and life expectancy almost a decade less than national average near nuclear facility comparable to Sellafield only miles from Scotland

johnrobertson834

Professor John Robertson OBA In TCD (Ohio USA) yesterday: Residents of US town near nuclear facility face alarming crisis: ‘So many people are suffering’ “Our community shouldn’t be put at an increased risk.” https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/piketon-nuclear-plant-ohio-radiation-exposure/ Their report relies heavily on these comments in a UK Guardian piece on 23 September 2025: Reports have emerged that 10 tons of uranium were released from a now-closed uranium enrichment facility almost nightly into the air between 1955 to 1993, an activity known by people who worked there at the time as ‘midnight rockets’. “This plant has a vast signature of contamination, mostly from an airborne … Continue reading US research finds cancer mortality rate over 40% higher than the national rate and life expectancy almost a decade less than national average near nuclear facility comparable to Sellafield only miles from Scotland

1 Comment

As the authorities approve supposed reduced risk how many childhood cancers were caused by refuelling at this Ayrshire nuclear power station?

johnrobertson834

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. By Professor John Robertson, OBA Thanks to JB for researching this. 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 … Continue reading As the authorities approve supposed reduced risk how many childhood cancers were caused by refuelling at this Ayrshire nuclear power station?

4 Comments

Why Scotland’s older ‘folded’ geology makes Farage’s ‘back of a cigarette packet’ fracking policy, stupid and dangerous

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBAThe above BBC article, based on Reform UK comments, makes no mention of the older folded geology which Scotland is made up of almost entirely. I seemed to remember reading something suggesting that it would make fracking more difficult and, inevitably, more dangerous. Unable to find it by Googling, I asked my old pal Grok AI: Does Scotland’s older more folded geology make fracking more difficult? The answer: See the above reference to problems in fracking in the Scottish Midlands Valley? Here’s the … Continue reading Why Scotland’s older ‘folded’ geology makes Farage’s ‘back of a cigarette packet’ fracking policy, stupid and dangerous

5 Comments

‘Huge pools of mystery sludge, leaking silos’ and shocking complacency only a few miles from Stranraer and the highest cancer level in Europe – Does Scottish Labour need a ‘cancer panic’ to wake it up to the risks of pursuing even more nuclear projects?

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA In the Daily Mail today: Atomic bomb waste discovered beneath six homes in St Louis has sparked panic and renewed concern in other US cities still haunted by Manhattan Project contamination. St Louis is far from the only city still dealing with Manhattan Project fallout. Across the country, sites such as Hanford in Washington, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and Los Alamos in New Mexico remain dangerously contaminated. A 2003 study surveyed 801 individuals who lived downwind of the Hanford plutonium production facility, finding … Continue reading ‘Huge pools of mystery sludge, leaking silos’ and shocking complacency only a few miles from Stranraer and the highest cancer level in Europe – Does Scottish Labour need a ‘cancer panic’ to wake it up to the risks of pursuing even more nuclear projects?

4 Comments

Don’t go in the water – Cancer and stroke inducing radioactive air and water emissions from Trident subs more than double in the Clyde as BBC staff look on quietly

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting me to this: From CND on 6th November 2024, missed by me at the time and, of course, ignored by the staff at BBC Pacific Quay on those very same winds and waters. Radioactive air emissions have been increasing year-on-year at Coulport one of Britain’s nuclear submarine bases in Scotland. This development is of some concern as it would lead to increased health risks wherever the emissions were inhaled.  According to the Scottish Pollution Release Inventory, tritiated water vapour emissions at Coulport were 1.7 billion becquerels (units of radioactivity) in … Continue reading Don’t go in the water – Cancer and stroke inducing radioactive air and water emissions from Trident subs more than double in the Clyde as BBC staff look on quietly

7 Comments

In its 45 year lifetime how many childhood cancers were caused by refuelling at this Ayrshire nuclear power station?

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson, OBA Thanks to JB for researching this. 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 … Continue reading In its 45 year lifetime how many childhood cancers were caused by refuelling at this Ayrshire nuclear power station?

7 Comments

Radioactive tritium emissions which ‘slam into’ your DNA, DOUBLE around Clyde nuclear sub base

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson, OBA Yesterday, I saw the above report and read further on the topic in The Engineer, that: Fusion power plants will rely on hydrogen isotopes deuterium (which can be extracted from seawater), and tritium (which is rare on Earth) to produce energy. To address this scarcity, tritium must be produced (or ‘bred’) in a lithium-containing blanket that surrounds the fusion reaction. The LIBRTI programme aims to demonstrate controlled tritium breeding, which will be a critical step for future fusion power plants. Tritium jumped up into my mind again as it had done three weeks ago as I … Continue reading Radioactive tritium emissions which ‘slam into’ your DNA, DOUBLE around Clyde nuclear sub base

2 Comments

Texas takes fight against massive federal Sellafield-like nuclear dump proposal to highest level – supreme court

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Texas Tribune, two days ago: The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a yearslong dispute over a plan to ship highly radioactive nuclear waste to rural West Texas, a case that could have sweeping implications for how the nation deals with a growing stockpile of waste generated by nuclear power plants. A company called Interim Storage Partners has long pursued the plan to move “high-level” nuclear waste from power plants across the nation to an existing nuclear waste storage facility in Andrews County, on the Texas-New Mexico border. Last year, in a Texas-led lawsuit, a federal … Continue reading Texas takes fight against massive federal Sellafield-like nuclear dump proposal to highest level – supreme court

21 Comments

“If the technologists and scientists involved in disposal [of nuclear waste] are so confident in the safety then they should do it in the cities which are demanding the energy,”

johnrobertson834

When I moved to Ayr in 1984, locals were protesting British Nuclear Fuel’s plans to bury nuclear waste under a hill only 15 miles to the south of the town. The protest worked and the waste is still being dumped at Sellafield in Cumbria. However, Ayr remains on the atmospheric and coastal water flows from it, the most toxic site in Europe, and local shellfish, estuary and beach sediment, bottom feeding fish and animals that feed on them, are more radioactive than EU legislation on consumption would allow. Scottish Labour, doing what they’re told, are in favour of the new … Continue reading “If the technologists and scientists involved in disposal [of nuclear waste] are so confident in the safety then they should do it in the cities which are demanding the energy,”

10 Comments

Even Japan just dumps radioactive waste in the sea as will Starmer’s UK

johnrobertson834

Labour, contrary to all the evidence, plan new small modular reactors (SMRs), above, across the UK unless Scottish planning authorities stand firm. The new small plants actually generate more waste to be dealt with. Yesterday, we saw in Global Times: Chinese nuclear power industry insiders told the Global Times at an event in Beijing on Wednesday that China offered Japan a technology specifically for tritium wastewater treatment for their crippled Fukushima Daiichi complex, but due to the high costs, Japan eventually chose what was the simplest and cheapest method for them – to discharge it into the sea. At a … Continue reading Even Japan just dumps radioactive waste in the sea as will Starmer’s UK