Does anyone know the safest place in the UK to be in the event of an earthquake?
I Do.
It's Telford.
Just off the M54 in the Ricoh Factory to be precise.
A colleague of mine was given a guided tour last year and my colleague (a Journalist) got a great story.
When they built it they built to the spec it would have in Japan. The planning and engineering exactly that of a factory built in the homeland. They just assumed every where would have the same risk levels. Didn't help them in the recent events though did it? Saved lives for sure and the drills and awareness played a part too but something so big is unstoppable.
When my partner was was a student she was tasked with helping a lecturer research the events around Sellafield in the mid eighties. Many kids had contracted leukaemia - far far more than the national average 14 I think in the tiny towns of Cockermouth etc (Nat average was .5 for an equivalent population).
The only other place with comparable levels was at Faslane Navy Base - no surprises for guessing what was stored there!
So she was allowed into the site (not the visitor centre - that's miles away for the tourists) to quiz the experts.
It all got involved with probability theory - proof has to be established by a pathway - ie how did the kids become ill - they (BNFL) denied it all of course "a statistical anomaly" etc.
It took scientists decades to test for the pathway : water, rivers, sheep wool. lamb, beef, air, dust - you can imagine.
Turns out it was carried in the testes of male workers.
Feck nuclear power. Where are the 50p per quarter bills we were promised? So cheap it's not worth printing a bill?
Just more millions floating up to the top.
Think how things have changed since these things were built - more gadgets yes but:
LED lights, flat screen, solar panels, wind turbines, wave power (this is the big one), motion sensor street lights, condensing boilers, hybid cars, more efficient injected engines, etc etc the answer seems to be use a combination and use it wisely. Sod Nuclear. Turn off streetlights at midnight now. I'm sure you could see every ASDA store from space every night it's so lit up. Make air travel a luxury not an option. Invest in proper railways - get freight off the roads. Motion sensor lighting for streets and workplaces. Options and answers exist if Political will does not.
Who would insure a Nuke plant now? who pays for the clean up? are Iran really just making cheap electricity to power there Ipads?
