#ukaea

On Tuesday, 17 July 1984, at the British Rail test track at Old Dalby, Leicestershire, a flask of the type used for transporting spent MAGNOX fuel from power stations across Britain to the reprocessing plant at Sellafield was deliberately rammed by a Diesel locomotive (46009) and three passenger coaches, at a speed of 160 km/h. The locomotive was utterly demolished. The coaches were wrecked. And the flask? It needed a new coat of paint.

The intent was to placate critics of nuclear energy, who professed not to be satisfied by operational experience and engineering studies showing that the transport of spent nuclear fuel was safe. As Dr Sir Walter Marshall (later Lord Marshall of Goring) said, “If you’re not convinced by this, you’re not going to be convinced by anything!”

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, apparently for no better reason than to confuse people, produced multiple contemporaneous publications with the title “ATOM”.

These illustrated summaries of the annual reports, which were issued for a number of years, have proven very difficult to obtain — I have succeeded in buying only two, of which one was lost in the post.

“Burst Slug Detection Gear” sounds like a topic at the local Garden Club meeting.

Dr Jones, Chief Economist for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, has some very pointed ― and even now, very timely ― things to say in this pamphlet on subjects such as :

the value of energy for civilization

the inadequacy of conservation, in the face of the needs of the global poor

the political perils of dependency on imported fossil fuels

the continuing demand for products of energy-intensive industries in wealthy countries, despite economic transitions there

the curtailment of CO₂ emissions

We would very much like to get our hands on the booklets and wall charts mentioned in this booklet.