Shocking risks taken at Oldbury nuclear plant

The Independent on Sunday yesterday revealed shocking safety risks taken at Oldbury - the info was gained under the Freedom of Information and only confirms Green party calls over the last weeks to close this dinosaur - you can see my press release yesterday here which also links to our previous calls and the recent fire there.

I am pleased the national press have picked this up - a couple of local Greens have done much to try and get this covered more widely - indeed I've forwarded info to Geoffrey Lean, the IOSs' Environment Editor who wrote the story - I hope it will lead to some sanity over this plant. It really is quite extraordinary tale - despite the Nuclear Installation Inspectorate casting doubts on the nuclear company's ability to cope with exceptional circumstances they still allowed the reactor to start up last month. The documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that there was a one-in-1,000 risk of a fire in the highly radioactive nuclear fuel yet the plant has been restarted. This is wholly unacceptable.

Anyhow read the news release for more info - the Western Daily Press have today also picked up on the story.

I was also pleased to see today that Green Stroud Town Cllr Dave Cockcroft has written a response to the letter in the SNJ last week claiming we need nuclear - his letter is an effective answer that pointing out flaws in the argument and showing that nuclear is not the way to go - see it here. He also shows why the local 'No to Plastic Bag' campaign is important.