Publication Laka-library:
Reprocessing the thruth
| Author | Goldsmith |
| Date | |
| Classification | 2.05.8.35/03 (UNITED KINGDOM - SELLAFIELD - THORP) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
Reprocessing the Truth The Ecologist Analyses the Windscale Report by Edward Goldsmith, Peter Bunyard, and Nicholas Hildyard. 1.0. Introduction The proposed extension of BNFL's reprocessing facilities at Windscale is the thin edge of the nuclear wedge. Although Mr. Justice Parker claims that such an extension need not have any bearing on future policy and development of nuclear power, it is clear that THORP - the proposed Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant - only has practical and economic advantage if Britain is to embark on an aggressive fast breeder reactor programme. Despite his statements to the contrary, he has to a large extent pre-empted the outcome of any future hearing on Britain's first commercial fast breeder reactor There is a perfidious logic in Parker's report which could dangerously mislead anyone ignorant of the fundamental issues associated with nuclear power and the atomic cycle. Parker has a way of twisting the argument so that the objectors' case seem to support BNFL's. Thus, he manages to argue that instead of increasing the chances of proliferation, reprocessing actually reduces them: instead of incurring a greater threat from radioactive waste. it diminishes it: and instead of leading to a greater drain on energy resources, it actually augments them. At issue with the Inquiry was the future shape of our society and a number of objectors argued that if mankind is to survive, an alternative must be found to our present high energy, growth orientated lifestyle. Parker listened to them but gave them no credence. He accepts the status quo of our industrial society without question, arguing that only nuclear energy can give us the power to progress. Yet no evidence emerged at the inquiry to show that nuclear energy is a viable option for the future, or that our industrial system can be sustained in the long-term. The thesis of A Blueprint for Survival and The Limits to Growth still stands, and Parker fails to come to grips with its implications. Indeed, in plumping for BNFL's limited view of the future, he and his assessors have despatched us down a one-way street to moral, ecological and social bankruptcy.
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