Sir In the new year the MoD’s submarine dismantling project enters a new and critical stage. It will begin a “demonstration” of the project by cutting up a single submarine at Rosyth dockyard. Some of this work will require the use of robotics under water then storing the pieces in specially designed stores with up to 100 year life use.
There are more than 20 such sites in the UK.
All current 27 decommissioned boats at Rosyth and Devonport will undergo this work. The radioactive waste will eventually be transferred to an underground geological disposal facility at a site yet unknown at a cost “unquantifiable”.
Because of the imminence of this work Rosythwatch, formed 1983, urges Fife Council to activate its regulations covering nuclear safety procedures to identify any shortfalls in the regulations, if any, regarding emergency preparedness and public information.
Hampshire County Council’s emergency planning department engaged in such an exercise in 2003 after the arrival of the decommissioned submarine HMS Torbay at Portsmouth dockyard.
Anti-cancer tablets containing potassium iodate were handed out to 80,000 people in the Gosport and Portsmouth area and drug pick-up points were identified, including schools and public buildings. Rosyth and district deserves no less.
That only Westminster reserves the power to deal with obsolete N-subs highlights some of the folly hidden within the devolution settlement, does it not?
G B Anderson. Secretary, Rosythwatch, 7 Elliothill Street, Dunfermline.
Important that we all vote in referendum
Sir Scottish residents are being invited to vote in the Scottish referendum on September 18, 2014. I was greatly concerned to read in The Courier that out of the 270,000 households in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire Council, 93,000 had failed to respond to the electoral canvass forms delivered in October.
This represents a small part of the number of Scottish residents entitled to vote in the independence referendum, but extended over the whole of Scotland come September 18 next year we may only see 50% of Scottish residents bothering to vote on a hugely important day for Scotland. Perhaps the most important day in the history of Scotland.
Scotland, please vote.
Edward F Valentine. 15 Napier Place, Marykirk.
Could be a costly battle
Sir, Andrew Mitchell has suffered a major set back in his Plebgate legal battle after judges upheld a ruling that he will not be able to claim back more than £500,000 in legal costs even if he wins.
What a shame, still he may manage to put this through his parliamentary expenses as cycling mileage and much needed work-related education on people motivation.
Clark Cross. 138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
Can’t follow the logic . . .
Sir, Six months ago I was a certain “no” voter for next year’s referendum. Now I am a “don’t know”. The shift is down to the No campaign, not the Yes campaign.
I struggle with the No campaign’s logic. On one hand they tell us that there is nothing an independent Scotland could do. We can’t do pensions, or welfare, our education system would fail, our R&D base would be eroded, we can’t defend ourselves, we can’t do broadcasting (no more Dr Who) and so on.
Yet these are functions that other small nations, such as Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Malta and Faroes manage without any major problem.
The implication is that 300 years of union has left Scotland unable to do things that other countries can do.
On the other hand, they tell us that we are better together and should vote for another period within the union. I can’t follow the logic of it being good for us to be in an arrangement that renders us incapable of what other nations can do.
Looking at devolved and reserved matters, I can see areas where Edinburgh is not doing too well. Curriculum for Excellence is a good example. However, on reserved matters I see chaos: confusion over immigration, MoD procurement problems, the BAA debacle, the UK pensions black hole, the ridiculous “bedroom tax”, the exponential growth in personal debt, the huge increases in soup kitchens and food banks and wonder how this fits with Better Together as a brand.
I fear the No campaign are presenting an open door to their opponents.
Bob Thomas. 15 Largo Road, Lundin Links.
Memories of “historic” doors
Sir, The Courier headline “Historic doors on display” brought a smile to my face as I never thought, when serving as a police officer in Bobber Wynd Police Station, Cupar, from 1956 to 1959, that the cell doors, often closed with some difficulty if the “prisoner” was not too happy about entering the cell, would become of historical interest.
Ian Thomson. Moor Road, Ceres.