At the present time, over a million tonnes of tritium-contaminated water are being held in about a thousand tanks at the site of the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station in Japan.  This is being added to at the rate of ~300 tonnes a day from the water being pumped to keep cool the melted nuclear … [Continue Reading]

In my post yesterday, I related my high opinion of the first four episodes of the HBO drama-documentary on Chernobyl.  I have just viewed the 5th and final episode, and sadly, I think the last episode went off the rails…a bit … The courtroom scenes stated that the reason for explosion was a test which … [Continue Reading]

Readers may have been watching the 5-part drama-documentary “Chernobyl” on TV. Apparently it is the highest-rated television series of all time, according to crowd-sourced reviews on IMDb, a film and television rating site. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/06/03/chernobyl-is-on-track-to-become-the-highest-rated-tv-series-ever I have yet to see the final episode, but the first four are pretty accurate in their portrayal of the accident … [Continue Reading]

 A triple whammy On March 20, the British science journal Nature published an important editorial “It’s time to talk about ditching statistical significance” which argued against the indiscriminate use of statistical testing in health studies. Second, the same edition contained a commentary “Scientists rise up against statistical significance” signed by 853 scientists worldwide, with about … [Continue Reading]

Readers will have seen the news[1] (March 5) that Rolls Royce is trying to get rid of the main bulk of its civil UK nuclear business though not Small Modular Reactors, nuclear submarines and Hinkley Point C  involvement. It has appointed the consultancy firm KPMG to find a buyer[2]. This follows the earlier revelation[3] (January 26) … [Continue Reading]

Incorrect Statements in BBC News article on Hunterston B By Dr IAN FAIRLIE, Independent Consultant and Dr DAVID TOKE, Reader in Energy Policy at the University of Aberdeen On March 8, the BBC published a news item (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47485321)  about cracks in the Hunterston B nuclear reactors. Whilst it is good that the story highlighted reporting … [Continue Reading]

Dr Ian Fairlie, Independent Consultant in Radioactivity in the Environment Dr David Toke, Reader in Energy Policy at the University of Aberdeen February 9, 2019 Abstract: In our view, Hunterston B nuclear power station needs to be closed for safety reasons, but this should not be lamented because there is presently a surplus of electricity … [Continue Reading]

Because of the risk of possible terrorist attacks at the 15 UK nuclear reactors and >20 nuclear reactors in nearby countries, and because of the advanced ages of UK nuclear reactors, there is a need for greater preparedness to deal with nuclear accidents and incidents. For these reasons, in June 2016, the House of Commons … [Continue Reading]

This article discusses three related matters – The experience of evacuations during the Fukushima nuclear disaster Whether lengthy evacuations from large cities are feasible? Some emergency plans for evacuations in North America (a) Introduction If another severe nuclear accident, such as Windscale (in 1957), Chernobyl (1986) or Fukushima (2011) were to occur then the adverse … [Continue Reading]

In August 2016, I wrote an article for The Ecologist  indicating that the widespread belief that nuclear power was a good source of employment was a myth. In fact, a shibboleth. The article stated that Office for National Statistics (ONS) data for 2014 indicated only 15,500 direct jobs in nuclear power compared with 43,500 direct … [Continue Reading]