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Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Plutonium connection Sizewell B and the bomb

AuteurR.Edwards, CND
Datummaart 1983
Classificatie 2.05.8.20/02 (GROOT-BRITTANNIË - SIZEWELL)
Voorkant

Uit de publicatie:

Introduction 

Members of the public anxious about the links between nuclear power and nuclear 
weapons have recently been assailed with assurances that they have nothing to fear. 
''There is confusion between nuclear power and nuclear weapons'', the Energy 
Secretary Nigel Lawson told the House of Commons press gallery lunch in January 
1983. ''There is no more connection between the generation of power in a nuclear 
power station and nuclear weapons than there is between a conventional power 
station and conventional weapons. '' (1)

Later the same month Mr Lawson's junior minister, John Moore, assured readers of 
The Guardian that ''the alleged linkage between the Central Electricity Generating 
Board's nuclear power programme and. nuclear weapons is wholly without 
foundation.'' (2) In the opening week of the Sizewell B Public Inquiry, John Baker, 
the chief witness for the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), insisted that 
''no plutonium produced in CEGB reactors has been applied to weapons use either in 
the UK or elsewhere, and it is the policy of the Government and of the CEGB that t
his situation should continue'' (3)

Messrs Lawson, Moore and Baker are not telling the truth: it is the purpose of this 
pamphlet to show why. The aim is to set out the known facts and to reveal the extent 
to which the government and the nuclear industry are attempting to mislead us. With 
the public inquiry into the CEGB's plans to build an American-style pressurised water 
reactor (PWR) at Sizewell in Suffolk likely to dominate the nuclear power debate in 
1983 and beyond, the possible connections between Sizewell B and the bomb are 
examined particularly closely.

The pamphlet is divided into four parts. In part 1 the history of the development of 
nuclear power and weapons is briefly outlined, followed by an account of what is 
known about the plutonium deals between Britain and America focussing particularly 
on the role of the CEGB. Part 2 describes the current situation and assesses the 
likelihood of plutonium produced by Sizewell B or other civil reactors being used in 
nuclear weapons in the future. Part 3 examines the implications of what happens in 
Britain and America for international attempts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons. 
Part 4 summarises the evidence and concludes that it is impossible to separate nuclear
power and nuclear weapons.

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