Fukushima Radiation Detected In Scotland

Photo by DigitalGlobe

Scotland is, quite literally, half a world away.

On the other side of the planet, you wouldn't expect events in Japan to have any impact on us here. Extreme sympathy with what the people are going through, a quid or two in a collecting tin, but no real impact on our daily lives.

So it brings you up short when you hear the news that radioactive iodine from Fukushima has been detected in Glasgow.

Of course, the levels are so low that they're not a danger to health here.

But it shows that as far as nuclear power is concerned, there's no getting away from it anywhere on the planet.

And then, of course, there's Torness. Just 30 miles down the coast, Edinburgh would be within any Japanese-style evacuation zone if anything were to happen. Can you imagine having to evacuate the whole of East Central Scotland?

We shouldn't have to think "there but for the grace of god..." when it comes to providing us with power.

And another thing, a spurious point and slightly over the top - when a wind turbine breaks, 200 people don't have to sacrifice their lives to fix it.