The Scottish Parliament

A £300 million facility for the storage and treatment of nuclear waste has been approved by the Highland council. The plant (for which construction is predicted to begin next year) is set to be built next to the Caithness power station.

Details of the plans have now been passed to the Scottish Executive for review, but there has, as yet been no move to stop the plans. The only move made by the executive involves the inclusion of a condition in the planning for a ‘community benefit fund’ as part of the approval.

The plant is expected to be operational by 2011, where it will in case and store radioactive waste in concrete barrels, pending the results of a long term policy review regarding the treatment of this waste.

As would be anticipated, there has been much concern over these plans, especially from local residents who fear for the environment and also for housing prices in the area. Fears have arisen as information was announced stating that that the proposed site would hold 200,000 cubic meters of waste in vast bunkers. The initial site for this plant was on the grounds of Dounreay itself, however fears of costal erosion have ruled out that land.

The issue of radioactive waste is a real thorn in the side of the current Scottish administration, as they have an anti-nuclear power policy. This is a real ‘dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t’ situation for Alex Salmond and his Executive as they are effectively reduced to making tough choices to clear up an issue that they never would have allowed to happen.

The facts are, those who live by the sword will one day die by the sword, in other words, countries who use nuclear power will need to deal with the aftermath. There is not a site in the whole of Scotland that would not be controversial if a nuclear dump were proposed.

The Scottish Executive, along with the Highland Council have had to make a very tough call. Simply stated – this site had to go somewhere. And whilst the idea of a nuclear may upset our sense of national identity, the fact remains that this site had to be built somewhere.

There are, however, important lessons that the people of Scotland can learn… namely that the use of nuclear power has consequences. If we, as a people, are not happy with the consequences of nuclear power, then surely we should not have voted in a Labour administration with a pro-nuclear policy.

Scotland may be a small nation, but we have many options open to us. As a country we have substantial resources in terms of renewable energies. More than virtually any other country in Europe, we have alternatives available. Over the next few years, the people of Scotland need to decide what we want and make our voices heard with our votes.