1 year ago
69
The convenor of Scotland’s nuclear free local authorities (NFLAs) has written to Scottish Government Net Zero Minister Michael Matheson asking him to reject nuclear power at Scotland’s two new Green Freeports and instead make them a hub for renewable technologies to produce power for the nation.
The Scottish NFLAs have also called on the Minister to make sure that Scotland’s nuclear communities do not lose out by ensuring that the workers and businesses located there can access the new opportunities that arise in the freeports once operations at nuclear power stations end.
In the letter, the NFLA has been joined as a co-signatory by the campaign group, Highlands against Nuclear Power.
Scotland NFLA Convenor, Councillor Paul Leinster, was quick to attack the notion of nuclear energy in a Green Freeport: “The NFLA and HANP cannot see how any genuinely Green Freeport with an aspiration to create green jobs and forge a green energy future for Scotland can incorporate the manufacturing of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.
“This is not a green technology. It is simply a nuclear fission reactor made smaller, but it is still reliant on uranium dug from the ground, which is processed, transported many miles, enriched and manufactured into fuel rods; it still contaminates the environment around the site on which the plant sits; and it still generates radioactive waste that must be managed for generations at great expense.
“Nuclear is a faux-Green technology and locating nuclear manufacturing facilities in a Green Freeport or using nuclear power to support its operations would represent ‘greenwashing’.”
The Chair of Highlands against Nuclear Power, Tor Justad, talked of the potential for the Freeports to create skilled employment and supply-chain opportunities for workers and businesses in nuclear communities who lose out when power plants close:
“The NFLA and HANP recognise that when all nuclear operations end in Scotland, workers and local businesses will require new opportunities to source an income. There has been a lot of talk of a ‘just transition’ for oil industry workers as we move away from fossil fuels, but we want to see a ‘just transition’ for nuclear communities too.
“We believe that the Freeports can provide skilled and high-paid alternate employment and business opportunities in the renewable energy technologies that we need for workers and sub-contractors once they are displaced from nuclear operations at Dounreay, Torness, Chapelcross, or Hunterston, and we shall continue to lobby the Scottish Government to ensure that they are able to access them.”
Ends://…
Notes to Editors
Please direct any enquiries to NFLA Secretary Richard Outram at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk / 07583 097793
The letter sent 8 February to the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport reads:
Mr Michael Matheson MSP,
Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport
Scottish Government
St Andrew’s House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
CabSecNetZET@gov.scot
8 February 2023
Dear Cabinet Secretary,
Re. Green Freeports and Nuclear Energy
As Convenor of the Scotland Forum of the UK/Ireland Steering Committee of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) and as Chair of Highlands against Nuclear Power (HANP), we were delighted to hear about the establishment of Scotland’s first Green Freeports at Forth and Inverness & Cromarty Firth.
However, we wanted to write to you on two matters of concern:
1. To seek your assurance that the Scottish Government will oppose the development of Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactors there:
Referencing the Scottish Government’s website it states that: ‘Applicants to become a Green Freeport in Scotland were required to demonstrate how they would contribute towards a just transition to net zero emissions by 2045 and create new, green jobs. They were also required to set out how they would support high-quality employment opportunities with fair work conditions at their core’.
With the two Freeports expected to deliver up to 75,000 new jobs across the UK, generate massive inward investment, and support ambitious plans for offshore wind, green hydrogen and other renewables, this represents great news that for the NFLA Scottish authorities and for HANP is very welcome and laudable.
However, here’s the rub. Whilst the Scottish Government’s website appears to make no mention of nuclear, the British Government’s media release stated that for Inverness and Cromarty Firth there would ‘a focus on floating offshore wind, nuclear and hydrogen that will drive a transition to net zero by 2045’[1] and this intention was also spelt out to local media by Steve Chisholm, Operations & Innovation Director at Freeport operator, Global, who said that there was an opportunity for on-site ‘small modular reactor manufacturing’ by 2026.[2]
Minister, the Scottish NFLA and HANP cannot see how any genuinely Green Freeport with an aspiration to create green jobs and forge a green energy future for Scotland can incorporate manufacturing for faux-Green new nuclear technologies. The notion is a contradiction in terms and would represent ‘greenwashing’.
All Small Modular (Nuclear) Reactors generate power through nuclear fission, so they are not especially radical just smaller than their larger cousins, but they still represent an ecological disaster with the risk of accidents, or being targeted by hostile actors, and with the deadly legacy of environmental contamination and deadly radioactive waste, which cost taxpayers so much to deal with. Despite the hyperbole, none of the SMR designs submitted to the UK’s Office of Nuclear Regulation have even yet received regulatory approval, which is some years off, nor have any consents be granted for development of these SMRs on any specific sites in the UK.
Minister, like the NFLA’s December letter opposing SMRs at Grangemouth, given the Scottish Government’s historical opposition to new civil nuclear power in Scotland, please can we seek your assurance that the Scottish Government will continue to oppose the development, manufacture (or possible future deployment) of SMRs or other new nuclear at the new Green Freeports?
2. To explore a ‘Just Transition’ for the Dounreay and Torness nuclear communities:
Although the NFLA and HANP are opposed to nuclear power, we recognise that the economies of nuclear communities are inexorably tied to the operation of their local plant and we want to ensure that the workers, sub-contractors and small businesses in such communities are provided with suitable opportunities to secure an income that are commensurate with their skills.
The recent exciting announcements made by Scottish Government about offshore wind and the Freeports could represent opportunities for the nuclear communities at Dounreay, as decommissioning ends in the 2030s, and at Torness, where nuclear generation is expected to end in 2028. (And also at Hunterston, where clean-up operations have begun).
Although there has been much talk of the reengagement of oil workers displaced by the move away from fossil fuels, the NFLA and HANP would be keen to explore with local parties and with the Scottish Government how we can secure a ‘Just Transition’ for nuclear communities too.
Minister, could you please outline your early thoughts as how the Scottish Government intends to ensure a ‘Just Transition’ in these communities, how some of the employment and business opportunities generated by offshore wind and the Freeports might be directed to them, and how the members of the Scottish NFLA and HANP might help you achieve this ambition?
Many thanks in anticipation of your response. Please direct this by email to NFLA Secretary, Richard Outram, at richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Paul Leinster, Convenor, NFLA Scottish Forum
Tor Justad, Chair, Highlands against Nuclear Power
