MORE than two decades after they were first mooted, the truth about Britain鈥檚 last two advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactors has at last been told.
According to Scottish Nuclear, the state-owned power company, both Torness, near Edinburgh, and Heysham II, near Lancaster, were built to keep the British engineering industry alive, not to meet demand for electricity. In a letter answering questions from a research student, Scottish Nuclear鈥檚 director of corporate communications, Irene Currie, says: 鈥淭he decision to build Torness was not based on a need for generating capacity.鈥� Both Torness and Heysham were meant 鈥渢o support the UK engineering industry through what was obviously going to be a lean period鈥�.
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s Scottish Nuclear鈥檚 predecessor, South of Scotland Electricity Board, argued that Torness, which was completed in 1989 at a cost of 拢1.76 billion, was necessary to meet the growing demand for electricity.
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Antinuclear groups argued that the forecasts of demand were exaggerated. Graham Stein, from Friends of the Earth Scotland, says that Scottish Nuclear is now admitting to 鈥渁n outrageous con trick鈥�.