Month: February 2019

Notes from the February organising meetings

We met on 20th February in Glasgow and 21st February in Edinburgh.  Here’s the composite notes of the discussion at the two meetings.  If you have any questions about any of the points or if you’d like to get involved in  any of the proposed activity do email on triple.e.scot@gmail.com

Action points and information from the February Scot.E3 meetings in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Proposals for new briefings including:

  • Public Ownership and the proposed state energy company (AM, Glasgow to contribute) – MD, Glasgow to contact Andy Cumbers to see if he would write something for the blog.
  • Update on Fuel Poverty (MT, Edinburgh to contribute)
  • Housing – PC, Edinburgh to contact SH and IW to seek advice, help and information.

Other action

  • GH, Glasgow to report back on Glasgow City Council and Climate Emergency Declaration
  • AM and GH talking to XR Glasgow with a view to organising a Scot.E3 presentation to the group, AM also talking to Unite activist group
  • Agreed to publicise and organise a climate jobs bloc (suggested by activists from FOE Scotland) on the Edinburgh and Glasgow May Day marches (4th and 5th May) – PC, Edinburgh to source banner and t-shirts
  • BP, Edinburgh is liaising with ‘Lucas Plan’ groups in England over ScotE3 representation at a divestment event and a possible joint autumn conference in Scotland
  • BP to produce a draft response to the GMB position on Just Transition
  • PC to send Climate Jobs manifesto to Just Transition commission and seek and opportunity to contribute to the discussion
  • School student strikes – we handed out cards with ScotE3 website details at the Edinburgh rally and they were very popular. We should repeat this on 15th March when the next strikes are due. CM and PC are involved in Our Forth who have organised a banner making session for school students in Portobello on 10th March
  • Scottish TUC conference in Dundee (15th – 17th April) – agreed to leaflet conference PC and BP available (other volunteers welcome) and to hold a fringe meeting if possible BP to contact JP to see if he can speak, PC to find venue – agreed to produce conference packs for delegates if possible
  • Continue to work on the climate jobs pamphlet

Information

Since the January meetings – we have had the opportunity to join the panel at a Just Transition event organised by Bella Caledonia and DeSmog UK and contribute to a Transitions Edinburgh event

It’s likely that a climate jobs and education motion will go to the EIS conference in June

Scottish CND are organising days of action in 2019 to highlight the ways money saved by scrapping the Trident nuclear weapon programme could be better spent on essential public services in Scotland. March – Housing, April – Climate, May – Jobs, June – Infrastructure, July – NHS, August – Education

Next meetings: Edinburgh – Thursday 21 March 7pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace. Glasgow date to be confirmed – likely to be topic based public meeting

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School students protest at Scottish Parliament – Feb 15th https://www.flickr.com/photos/petepolitics/sets/72157706685945575

More on Hunterston

On 10 January we wrote a short blog post on the dire state of the Hunterston B nuclear reactors and reported on a meeting where environmental radiologist Ian Fairlie spoke about the risk this poses to the population of central Scotland and beyond.

Ian Fairlie was back in Edinburgh on February 5th to provide an update on developments. Along with a colleague he had presented a technical report to the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) – the regulatory body that has to give EDF permission to resume operations at Hunterston. The ONR agreed with the substance of his report. Apparently the inspection of the reactor core suggests that a small number of the graphite blocks have double cracks but more than expected have multiple cracks.   It also transpires that Hunterston in fact has only one safety back up system rather than two – as became the norm in the later Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors (AGRs). Overall the ONR’s view of the current state of the reactors is even bleaker than Ian Fairlie had suggested in January. And in the face of this EDF are lobbying for reducing the accepted risk factor for the reactors by a factor of a 1000.

There is almost no chance that the reactors will be restarted in March and April as EDF have stated. This gives more time to continue to raise awareness of the safety threat they pose and to get the Scottish Government onside in a campaign to ensure the reactors are never restarted. There is no immediate threat to jobs because it takes some years for the reactors to get to a state where decommissioning can begin. This is a test case for Just Transition, however, and we need to campaign that over time the workforce is supported to move into sustainable jobs.

As we mentioned in January EDF are hugely in debt. They are desperate to restart production – not least because they have problems with their other AGRs. So they will fight the closure of Hunterston. Adding to their problems though is that, unreported and unmarked in the mainstream media, the Tories at Westminster are in the midst of a U-turn on nuclear. Although for the moment they cling on to idea that Hinkley C can still be built.

To find out more about why Hunterston is so dangerous read our latest Briefing 9.

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February organising meetings

Wednesday 20 February, 7pm at the Scottish CND office 77 Southpark Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8LJ

NB the venue is the SCND office – if you are walking up Southpark road from Great Western Road it’s on the left hand side tucked back from the road by the side of an ex(?) church building – you can see the peace symbol on the outside.

Thursday 21 January, 7pm at the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre, 5 Upper Bow EH1 2JN
NB the Peace and Justice Centre is just down from Johnston Terrace or from the other direction just round the corner from the Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House
Come along and get involved in thinking through and planning the next steps in the campaign. You can see the notes of the last meetings on the blog. We’ll be looking at fuel poverty, climate jobs, new briefings and the content for a pamphlet.