Energy Co-Operatives For Street Lighting.

I’ve mentioned the idea of powering street lighting by the use of solar and vertical wind turbines before now. There are many different designs to choose from.

What I didn’t mention is just how this might be achieved.

How it might be done.

What I’d also like to encourage are energy workers co-operatives which could operate in our city centres.

The idea being that they would install and run street lighting on behalf of all the local authorities.

This would save us all a lot in terms of local council taxes, provide much needed jobs, and generate wealth via the feed in tariff.

Best of all there would be no power loss over the electricity grid.

Aside from a little imagination all that would be needed is a little start up money, which could be set aside from the amount of money which local authorities currently spend on street lighting, and the political will to do.

It would be really good to know if anyone is interested in developing this idea.

Take No Prisoners

Remember the expression: ‘Take no prisoners’ ?

Well that was the order which came from King Henry V during the Battle of Agincourt.

So several thousand French prisoners were slaughtered. While only those that were ransomable got saved.

During the last British budget One Millions pounds was put to one side for a public celebration of the battle.

Perhaps a few people might like to turn up in chains at these ‘celebrations’, and play dead.

That really would make the point as to just what happened on October 25th 1415.

Yet More Worries From The Pacific

There are three news stories which have just been published in Enenews that everyone should read.

Melted fuel may have “dropped even beyond” the bottom of Fukushima plant

Dam gates ‘shifted’ in Fukushima Unit 3 fuel pool — Damaged by massive piece of falling debris — Concern it could trigger drainage from pool

&

Experts: Pacific food web crashing

They show just why we should all be really worried right now.

Train Time Information

Over the last year I’ve been out leafleting about the nukiller waste trains issue in such places as Chester, Warrington, and Wigan.

Two of the very noticeable comments which I’ve received while doing this are:-

“ I’ve seen them go by. ”

&

“ I’ve seen them go through here on a regular basis.

This is like saying that they have noticed what was passing by, become very blasé about what they were seeing, or just didn’t realise how dangerous they might be.

One problem we face in campaigning about these waste trains comes as an uncertainty.

For while we know the time slots for them to pass through any station, it does not mean they will all be used.

So that’s is why I now print out the waste train time schedules, with a note as to which platform they will be passing by, and make sure everyone who is leafleting with me gets a copy.

These printed timetables can then be used to fully Illustrate just why we are are leafleting outside of the stations.

Though what really need to be saying is:-

What You Can Do About It.

The next line being: –

Do you live next door in any of these train roots?

I mention that as we do need to have more train spotters in order to document these trains.

What would be really ideal is if these train spotters could then let others know when they are going up or down the line.

Them it will be possible to alert passengers going in to these stations that a waste flask is due that day.

We still need to keep doing these leafleting sessions, and do them on a regular basis.

To quote Niccolo Machiavelli: –

‘ The wise man does at once what the fool does finally. ‘

Marking Fukushima – Four Years On.

Here we go again

If there is ever a constant with me, then it is the need to constantly keep working upon what is the one most urgent issue.

It is the need to stop the nukiller power industry, be it new build, the transportation of highly radioactive materials, or highlighting the ongoing Fukushima disaster which is killing all life in the Pacific.

This is what drives me on.

Yet there are still very few people who are really alert to these dangers, never mind trying to do anything about them.

Time Now – Time in the future.

What needs to be understood is that we have very little time to stop nukiller new build, and sort out what to do with the existing radioactive waste.

If we don’t to so then the effects will last for thousands of years to come.

What Now.

We are now coming up to Fukushima Day, when a series of marches will be held throughout Europe to make the event. I will be on the march which is taking place on the Saturday, and leafleting about nukiller waste trains on the day itself.

I would urge you all to take part in one of these events.

What Scares Me

I keep saying this, and will repeat it once again: –

We have very little time left to deal with the nukiller issue.

What really alarms me is that there are so few who seem to of noticed this singular fact.

Now I could write a long essay about this, but think that it is perhaps to illustrate the point by giving these recent headlines from enenews.

Hawaii coral “the worst scientists have ever seen”

Huge radiation spike detected at Fukushima plant — Multiple records set near workers trying to stop nuclear waste flowing into ocean — Cesium up 7,500% this week

Fukushima corium found in Pacific — Flowing into ocean after hydrogen dissolves nuclear fuel — Scientist: We’ve actually seen plutonium floating on surface.

&

Sea creatures sick, dying or disappearing at alarming rate all along Pacific coast.

Meanwhile down at Dungeness which there is another danger which awaits us all.

The plant is just 3 miles away from Lydd Airport.

The word is scary and it’s getting scarier by the day.

NIMBYism v NIMBYism.

A wonderful example of Machiavellian thinking !

If the various proposals which abound about Nukiller New Build or just where Nukiller Waste might be stored illustrate anything, then it is how we need to think about these issues within an overall context.

Take for example the various proposals as to where radioactive waste from decommissioned nukiller submarines might be stored.

This displays a wonderful example of Machiavellian thinking at the MOD.

In each of the areas where they propose to dump this waste local groups cry out ‘Not Here’, and will be happy if goes to one of the other places which is on the list.

It all comes down to a form of NIMBYism v NIMBYism.

Victory! Victory!

Thus when the final decision is made – lots of local community groups will shout ‘Victory! Victory!’

That’s when the MOD will slip something else past us all.

It a tactic which the Nukiller power industry has been using for many a year.

While locals around the Capenhurst area worry about the submarine waste problem, URENCO can continue to use and transport Uranium Hexaflouride,

Yet very few people will do anything about this existing danger.

The same kind of thinking seems to be displayed by some of the local groups around Burfield, which is a nukiller weapons factory.

Ditto With New Build.

While lots of campaigning is being used to stop a new nukiller plant at Hinkley, there is less work being done to stop the working life of existing nukiller plants being extended.

In many cases this is up to another decade beyond what they were designed to do.

What strikes me is the need to make sure that we keep campaigning on new build as a part of all the other aspects of the nukiller industry.

e.g. Showing how uranium enrichment at Capenhurst is a direct cause of all the high level nukiller waste which goes through Chester & how it will effect the ongoing problems at Sellafield.

Ditto – How it relates to what’s happening and is proposed to happen at Wylfa.

What worries me is that by just focusing on Hinkley and New Build, we might well miss some of the other proposals which the nukiller industry is coming up with.

As I keep saying – Take the overview, but keep an eye on the details.

If we are going to stop all of these proposals then we need to think about a lot more joined up campaigning.

In this case it means local campaigning groups supporting all the other local campaigning groups.

Only then will it be possible for us to take on the nukiller industry and hope to win.

In Between

In between my normal round of activities, I’ve been working upon a number of projects which illustrate just what can be done in terms of Joined-Up-Campaigning.

Co-ordinated Leafleting

The first of these has been a series of co-ordinated leafleting sessions outside of the railway stations through which DRS nukiller waste trains pass through.

There have been three such co-ordinated sessions this year.

These stations have included Bridgwater, Bristol, Brixton, Carnforth, Carlisle, Chester, Gloucester, Lancaster, Warrington, & Wigan.

The great advantage of these co-ordinated leafleting sessions is that they only need a few people to cover each of these stations, but their impact is much greater in total.

In order to reach the greatest number of people who use these stations, it’s a good idea to leaflet them during the evening rush hour.

I’m hoping that there will be more of these co-ordinated leafleting sessions at many more stations within the coming year.

Joined Up Campaigning – Joined Up Thinking

One thing I’ve been working upon of late has been a response to the current set of MOD proposals as to where radioactive waste from decommissioned nukiller submarine might be stored.

The difficult part about drafting this statement was to avoid any aspect of NIMBYism, but still have something which any community group in the effected areas could put their name to.

If more such statements could be produced, then it will help to build a more campaigning networks.

For a long time now we have suffered from having too few activists, but by developing such co-ordinated campaigning, we should be able to turn this weakness in to our greatest strength

Woops!

WOOOPS!

I tripped over two weeks and now have a fractured shoulder. Thus it is very difficult and extremely painful for me to use my right arm. So everything I type is one handed, which slows me down a lot. It looks like it may be another 8 weeks of the same for me.

It’s amazing just what you learn in these situations, and just how much time one can spend working out different ways to do the most ordinary tasks.

Yet my body will mend and all will be well again in the new year.

But Not so with the nukiller industry where it is always going to be a case of Woops!.

Here a few recent examples just what I mean.

Woops!

Nuclear Accident in Illinois

but then comes the follow on –

Woops!

Hexafluoride Leak Worse Than Initially Reported, Regulator Says

or to put it another way —

Woops!

It’s a wake up call for Capenhurst.

Yet that’s not been the most frightening  story of late.

Woops!

Leaked Sellafield photos reveal ‘massive radioactive release’ threat.

Woops!

Here is what the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority have to say about it all.

But don’t worry about that as we are very well protected.

Woops!

The civil nukiller cops have opened a £2.5m firing range near Dounreay.

Woops!

Meanwhile – as predicted.

Fukushima radiation identified off northern California.

While over at the Fukushima plant it’s a case of —

Woops!

TEPCO states the entire decommissioning will be still ending in 30 ~ 40 years, but this is also baseless. The actual decommissioning may take over a century.

So it goes on, and on, and on, and on again and again and again..

Woops!

Woops!

Woops!

and

Woops!

I’m getting medical treatment for to fix my shoulder, but it will take a very different kind of fix to fix all the problems listed above.

In the meanwhile I’m learning just what I can and can not do with my fractured shoulder.

If only the nukiller power industry were to start to learn from their continuous mistakes.

New Flasks From Davis

Yesterday afternoon a photograph in the October issue of the Railway Magazine really caught my attention.

The photo was taken on August 27, and shows 10 newly build nukiller waste wagons being moved from the manufactures to the DRS depot at Crewe.

The waste flask manufacturer is W.H.Davis & Son, which is based at Langwith Junction, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

The company is described by Companies House as being a Private Limited Company, which manufactures railway locomotives and rolling stock.

The company website states that:-

‘ Recent contracts have included well wagons fitted with double bogies for the safe movement of nuclear product. ’

You can also see a photo of a 180 tonne GLW double-bogied nuclear flask carrier.

This is very obviously a company which we should be taking more interest in over the next few years.