 The Chernobyl nuclear power disaster is a recent reminder |
Are Midlanders bothered by the Government's announcement to press ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations to help meet future energy needs?
If atomic power helps keep fuel bills down and cuts carbon dioxide emissions at the same time what is there to argue about?
Also any new power stations would not be built in the region. So there is nothing to worry about ... Is there?
Environment concerns
The environmental pressure group Greenpeace thinks there are major concerns.
They claim Midlanders are in peril because more nuclear waste than ever before could be transported through our towns and cities on its way for reprocessing at Sellafield in Cumbria.
They say this traffic will offer new opportunities to terrorists and increase the risk of a potentially disastrous nuclear accident.
So what is their case based on? Is it scaremongering or whistle-blowing?
A Greenpeace report into the risks by nuclear engineers John Large & Associates looks at the potential threats.
The report claims:
- the rail network along which the spent fuel flasks travel is virtually impossible to defend with absolute certainty
- nuclear trains carry no apparent extra security
- numerous portable anti-tank weapons, capable of being handled by one or two individuals, are capable of breaching flask walls
Midlands exposed
All the nuclear waste from the South East and South West of England has to pass through the region on its way north.
Cheltenham, Worcester, and Birmingham are all en route for the nuclear trains heading from the West Country with Rugby, Tamworth and Stafford all receiving trains on their way from the South East.
Dr Large's conclusions are straightforward: "Transportation of intensely radioactive spent fuel must cease."
Greenpeace favours burying the waste on site rather than taking it up to Sellafield.
Direct Rail Services Ltd operate trains transporting nuclear waste around the UK and they point to their excellent safety record.
"The safety record of moving used nuclear fuel by rail is exemplary - this material has been transported in this way since 1962, travelling over 8m miles without any incident involving the release of radioactive material," said a spokesman.
Trains vulnerable?
They also refute any suggestion that their trains are lightly guarded and therefore vulnerable to terrorist attack.
"Overall security measures have been assessed by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security to be adequately robust to counter the threat.
"Information and intelligence relating to the threat is kept under constant review and in the event of a change to the threat appropriate action would be taken."
DRS also point to the fact the flasks have passed stringent tests and they are confident they can resist series accidents or incidents.
Reporter Sarah Thackray investigates the safety issue surrounding the transport of waste in this most controversial of industries.
Also in the programme ... Local government reform
Political Editor Patrick Burns speaks live to Professor Sir Michael Lyons, the man entrusted with the not-so-easy task of reforming local government. His brief is wide and ranging.
It includes looking at everything from the financing of our town and county halls to the very structure of the often confusing system itself.
Local government structure and finance may not sound sexy but remember the poll tax riots?
Baroness Thatcher probably has not - the issue has the ability to rock the most steady of governments.
The Politics Show
The Politics Show returns on Sunday 17 September 2006 at 12.00pm on BBC One.
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