Conference tallis::celt

    Mark
    
    If you are so worried about polution why not engage brain before
    opening gob.  That way you would cut the amount efluent getting into
    the atmosphere by a vast amount.
    
    Bruce
    
    PS:  Have a nice Christmas,  at least you know there will be two Turkeys
    at your table.

    This news doesn't bode too well for the Scots either since the
    predominant wind direction in this part of the world is south-westerly
    (i.e. coming from the south west). This means that any airborne
    radioactive leakage would end up polluting Scotland.
    
    Which conuntry stands to gain the most from this potential pollution of
    its neighbours ? .....
    
    
    That "Green and Pleasant Land", ENGLAND !
    

>    Which conuntry stands to gain the most from this potential pollution of
>    its neighbours ? .....
    
>    That "Green and Pleasant Land", ENGLAND !
    
I'm sure that the inhabitants of Cumbria will be pleased to know that.

	DUBLIN (UPI) -- The Irish government expressed concern Friday about a
study claiming a possible link between birth defects in Ireland and a
nuclear plant across the Irish Sea in Britain.
	A government spokesman said Prime Minister Albert Reynolds was
consulting with his energy minister and health officials about the new
THORP nuclear reprocessing extension at the Sellafield plant in Cumbria,
northern England -- 75 miles from the Irish east coast.
	Opponents of the plant gave Reynolds a petition Friday with 10,000
signatures gathered in Ireland opposing the facility.
	``The prime minister acknowledges that THORP is a matter of concern
for the government,'' a spokesman for Reynolds said after the petition
was delivered.
	On Thursday, Irish Health Minister Brendan Howlin said he would
launch an investigation into a medical researcher's study that claimed a
possible link between birth defects on the Irish east coast and
radiation from Sellafield.
	Howlin said departmental medical officers would scrutinise the study,
which cited 18 stillbirths or childhood deaths and 38 more birth defects
among babies born to women in Dundalk, a small eastern seaboard town 50
miles from Dublin.
	The report, compiled by nuclear medical specialist Dr. Patricia
Sheehan, studied mothers who attended the same school in the 1950s. She
said of 319 girls in the study, five gave birth to Downs Syndrome babies
and 33 more babies were born with serious handicaps including spina
bifida, heart defects and deafness.
	Five mothers had stillbirths, seven babies died within six weeks of
being born and six others died in childhood, Sheehan reported. The
report also found that the women had 161 miscarriages and 23 premature
births.
	Sheehan claimed the problems may be linked to a 1957 fire at
Sellafield, then known as Windscale.

Opposition to the THORP plant is almost universal (apart from a few 
blinkered Tory MP's that is).  I read somewhere that the CIA were even 
lobbying the UK Govt to re-think the whole issue.  Their concern is over 
the amount of weapons-grade Plutonium the plant is capable of producing. 

Greenpeace and Lancashire council have asked for a juducial review into the 
THORP plant since the govt refuses to hold a public inquiry.  I hope they 
succeed.

The birth defects issue goes further than the Irish coast.  Several 
Maternity hospitals in coastal towns in Ireland and Britain are reporting a 
much higher than normal incidence of children being born with either deformed 
hands or no hands at all.  One of the hospitals is Irvine, here in Ayrshire.  
My wife will be whisked off there any minute now for the birth of our second 
child.  I get a little bit nervous when I read reports about possible 
connections with pollution, Sellafield, etc.  Right now, there's a 
pollution scare here with a lot of dead birds being washed up on the 
shoreline. I believe the same is happening futher down the coast, on the 
Northern Irish coast, and the North-West English coast.


Mark 

>	The 2.85 billion pound ($4.25 billion) thermal oxide reprocessing
> plant in Sellafield, West Cumbria, is located 60 miles (90 km) from
> Dublin.

Last time I looked Sellafield was a bit further away than that. Then again,
I've never heard of a county called West Cumbria.

Dave

    Is Sellafield in Wales or England?

Sellafield is on the English coast on the western side of Cumbria, more like
120 miles from Dublin than 60.

Dave

To Mark Holohan, I apologize - I absolutely should not have replied to a 
non-work-related notesfile discussion in private e-mail.

On the whole subject, I sympathize with those who have been harmed by any
fallout (no pun intended) from the nuclear reprocessing plant, or any other
technology installation of any sort.

As has been pointed out, it isn't just the Irish near Dublin who have
(possibly, probably) suffered from misdeeds at this nuclear reprocessing plant.

I feel that Mark's original Title: was inflammatory, adding unrelated fire
to an issue already more-than-adequately inflamed.  The British aren't
"poisoning" (implying deliberate action) the Irish; they're quite possibly
doing something stupid and ecologically disastrous, huring everyone nearby.

-Jay

 re. .9

  You're probably right. The British probably aren't
  aware of the birth defects in Ireland being caused
  by their nuclear plant.  I mean if they were aware,
  I'm certain they would have shut the plant down.
  They probably just don't read the reports, or studies..
  I mean, if they did, well, then that would be 
  deliberate, wouldn't it. But like you said, I'm sure
  they just aren't aware, and don't read the reports,
  or the studies, or the news reports on the birth
  defects.

  Silly me!

                  Mark

    There are birth defects in British hospitals too (see .5).  And in many
    a Cumbrian and Lancastrian towns you'll see fishmongers displaying
    signs that "all fish is guaranteed not local".  There are dead birds
    and animals along the coast. It's *not* just the Irish who are suffering.
    
    The nuclear power lobby in the UK needs the Thorp plant to be able to
    justify its continuing with producing overpriced nuclear power.
    
    John

Mark Holohan's title to this topic is very similiar to the Daily Mirror 
headline he complained about in another topic.  That is, the focus is so 
narrow as to be deliberately misleading.  If you broaden the picture, 
you'll see that THORP has far-reaching consequences, as has the continued 
pollution of the coasts of Western Europe.

Mark

      LONDON, June 14 (Reuter) - A team of experts investigating radioactive
pollution at a Scottish beach said on Wednesday that government agencies had
kept vital information from them.

    The experts, themselves appointed by government, said an accidental
explosion at the Dounreay nuclear research facility had blasted radioactive
waste onto local beaches.

    The mess, evidently untouched since the accident in 1977, would take 20
years to clean up and cost as much as 500 million pounds ($800 million), they
said in a report.

    The health department's Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation and
the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee had been jointly
investigating both the pollution and evidence of ``clusters'' of leukaemia
cases around Dounreay.

    They found no evidence radiation was responsible for cases of leukaemia
around Dounreay, on Scotland's far northern shore.

    But Sir John Knill, former chairman of the Radioactive Waste Management
Advisory Committee, said his group had been given inadequate information.

    ``They were not given the information that they needed,'' he said in a
telephone interview.

    Knill said he did not know if this was done deliberately. But he added:
``There has been since 1984 a continual release of these radioactive atomic
particles onto the beach at Dounreay.

    ``They are continuing to come on the beach and no action has been taken
to stop them coming on the beach.''

    According to the committee's report the explosion, hurling particles of
irradiated reactor fuel over the beach, occured when Sodium and potassium
reacted with water in a deep waste disposal shaft.

    The shaft was capped with concrete, but the waste started leaking out
soon afterwards.

    Knill said the beach was not badly affected now, but he called for an
urgent study into how to clean up the shaft.

    The Scottish Office, responsible for the government regulatory agencies
that Knill said withheld information, welcomed the report without commenting
on the criticisms.

>                           -< English experiments? >-

how'd you come to that conclusion, then?  Oh sorry, I forgot, it's
not acceptable to question the Almighty Holohan.

Chris.

    never thought I'd agree with Holohan on anything but well...
    
    This is more evidence of the present British governments complacency
    and downright irresponsibilty. They have no shame!
    
    It should come as no surprise to anyone that these reactors are sited
    in low population areas to minimise the impact of something like this.
    But they should have the guts to admit to mistakes when they happen!
    Unfortunately, they don't and won't ever apologise to Scotland or
    Ireland for the #$%^ up they have made! IMHO
    
    Bill  

  re. .14

   If one purposely releases radiation into the human population. Then
   I would say, that one was experimenting on that human population.

                         Mark

    
    
     Why was .15 set hidden?
    
     Anyway, I'll repost it with any possible "nastiness/name calling"
    removed.
    
    Surely you should have entered a new note with a title of "British to
    continue poisoning Scots"? After all, Dounreay is in Scotland and as
    such I would imagine most of those affected by this accident would be
    those in the immediate area.
    
    Mr Holohan, any issue around nuclear contamination is to be taken
    seriously but your feeble and laughable attempt to suggest that the
    dreaded Brits are out to poison the population of Ireland shows once
    again that you are only interested in sensationalistic propaganda. 
    Someone reading your notes for the first time would probably say you
    were a bit of a nutter, but we know better, don't we?
    
    Danny.

    
    Gee Mark....
    
    Now that you've enlightened us about the English poisoning the Scots,
    I'd like to see you write about the Americans poisoning the Bikini
    Islands.
    
    /jen
    

>    I'd like to see you write about the Americans poisoning the Bikini
>    Islands.
    
What about the French poisoning the South Pacific?    



\C

 re. .18

> Surely you should have entered a new note with a title of "British to
> continue poisoning Scots"? 

  No.  I think there is a pattern in this topic.  One of British lack of
  concern for the safety of not only the Irish, but the Scots as well.
  Another topic for just the nuclear poisoning of Scots might have confused
  you.


Jen writes:
    
>    Gee Mark....
    
>    Now that you've enlightened us about the English poisoning the Scots,
>   I'd like to see you write about the Americans poisoning the Bikini
>    Islands.

   Also disgusting.  Do you really think notes on American poisoning of
  the Bikini Atoll belong in the Celt conference though? 

 
                            Mark

 P.S.
    Sorry I posted a Reuters article about British poisoning of Celtic 
    people.  I didn't realize it would offend you to point out a British
    crime.
    

There's a nuclear reactor just up the coast from where I was born.
Should I be berating myself for being part of a nation that may have
poisoned me?

Chris.

    I think the point is, all governments are guilty of cover ups when it
    comes to all things nuclear!
    Recent history proves that our illustrious government are more guilty
    than most and it comes as no surprise to anyone that there are no plans
    to build a nuclear reactor on the site of Battersea power station in
    the middle of London or anywhere in the south of England for that
    matter.
    
    Bill
    

An Phoblacht/Republican News
Oct. 19, 1995

-------------

                Nuke dump raised in Strasbourg
                         BY LAURA FRIEL

     THE SEA DUMPING CONTROVERSY reached Europe this week, when
it was said at the European Parliament in Strasbourg that more
than 2,000 tonnes of nuclear waste was dumped by the British at
the Beaufort Dyke in the Irish Sea were raised.

     The EU Commissioner with responsibility for environmental
and nuclear safety, Ritt Bjerregard, said she was aware that
people living along the Irish and Scottish coastline close to the
dumping zone were extremely concerned and ordered an
investigation into the matter by the EU Commission under the
Euroatom Treaty which governs the disposal of radioactive waste.

     The issue was raised by jointly by Irish MEPs John Hume, Pat
the Cope Gallagher and Bernie Malone, together with Scottish
colleague Alex Smith.

     The British Atomic Energy Authority, continue to deny that
nuclear waste was dumped in the Beaufort Dyke in November 1981.
They are now claiming that the six dumped drums contained only
concrete and were part of an exercise to test a new mechanism for
transfering material from the hold for disposal overboard.

     However, documentation belonging to the British Atomic
Energy Authority, leaked to Cushendall Councillor Oliver
McMullan, details the disposal of 2,500 tonnes of radioactive
waste in the Irish Sea, directly condracting the Authority's
claim. McMullan says: "I have documentation dating from 1989
showing that 2,517 tonnes of nuclear waste due for the  Atlantic
was dumped at Beaufort Dyke because of adverse weather
conditions. The time and amounts coincide."
-------------


    As interesting as the article is and as concerned as I am over such
    dumping I would ask you, as base noter, to change the title of this
    topic.
    
    I, for one, did not dump any nuclear waste near the shores of Ireland
    and Scotland, neither have I or do I poison the Irish people. Thus, the
    title "British to continue poisoning Irish" is untrue and offensive.
    
    I accept that it was not your intention to affend however I request most
    strongly that you correct this title or I shall be forced to take this
    matter further.
    
    Thankyou,
    
    Shaun.