In this presentation I am bringing together myth and legend with tourism, the experience of those living

near and working with and on the River Severn, with the politics of energy, land and water use. I wish I
could make some clever links between these various ways of looking at a river but the link is the River
itself, the place, changing and unchanged through time. It exists as a physical phenomenon in the
landscape, forming and being formed by it, as well as in the imagination and practices of people as they
live and work along its banks. If I have a conclusion it is that the river means a great deal to a great many
people, but that when it comes to dealing with threats to its well-being and to climate change, some
people are willing and able to tackle the questions head on, while others appear to be in denial. My
position is not neutral as I have been a climate activist in one way or another for much of my life, and one
of my motivations in researching this paper has been to try to understand how and why people react in
different ways to a place that they clearly value and love.

I start with mythology, not because people are familiar with legends of Hafren or find myths meaningful,

1
but in the hope that making links with an imaginative present and
mythological past might facilitate a more wholistic, less utilitarian attitude to
the world around us. By awakening the human capacity of the imagination and
calling on non-human forces in the landscape to help in our endeavours,
telling stories and myths can become another tool in helping to bring about
change.
I am particularly concerned with the area where two rivers meet, the Wye and the Severn, and the Lower
Severn Estuary. The junction of two rivers is often a sacred place and in this case it is an area steeped in
history, inhabited before the last ice age, and again almost continuously since the retreat of the glaciers at
the end of the late Devensian substage some ten thousand years ago. Today two bridges link the Forest of
Dean in Gloucestershire, England and Monmouthshire in Wales on the West bank, with Gloucestershire,
South Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset on the East bank.

2
In various surveys the River Severn is often designated ’Britain’s favourite river’. It is certainly beautiful in
many places and brings employment, prosperity, tourism, water and transport to the areas through which
it passes, but it is also liable to flooding, and towns and villages along its banks suffer increasingly
frequent, often catastrophic floods. Welsh rivers, including the Severn, are among the most dynamic in
the UK, both as a result of geological events in the past, to which they are still responding, as well as
human activities such as deforestation, building and farming (Brewer, Johnstone and Macklin, 2009).

3
Many of those living and working along the Severn are aware of the great flood of 1607. Four hundred
years ago a huge surge of water coursed up the Bristol Channel - covering 200 square miles of land with
water and killing an estimated 2,000 people. The flood reached a speed of 30mph and a height of 25ft.
There are competing theories as to the cause of the flooding, with some pointing to a tsunami and others
to a combination of high winds, heavy rain and high tides resulting in a storm surge. What once appeared
to be a one-off historical tragedy looks increasingly like a future possibility, as sea levels rise and weather
events become more extreme.

4
The Cambrian mountains of mid-Wales give birth to numerous rivers with their sources in close proximity,
including the Severn, Wye, Ystwyth, Rheidol and Dyfi. For a composite account of the origins of the Wye
(Gwy in Welsh), Ystwyth and Severn (in Welsh, Hafren) I am indebted to Richard Webb, who in turn draws
on Pollyanna Jones and Bill Gwilliam. The story begins on Plynlimon which is a massif that is the highest
point in the Cambrian Mountains and the highest point in Mid Wales. Underneath the massif there was
said to be a sleeping giant. This giant had three daughters who were Niskai [nis kai] in Celtic mythology,
sometimes known as water goddesses or nymphs. Their names were Ystwyth, Hafren and Gwy. Although
the giant slept he watched over his daughters in his slumber seeing them grow safely from the rain and
the mountain mist that settled upon the mountain sides. He watched the raindrops form puddles which
formed pools which joined together to form little rivulets that trickled gently down the mountain. In his
dreams, he looked upon them and saw the energy that was brimming up inside of them ready to overflow
and gush forth and he knew their time had come.

5
The Giant Awakes
Waking from his slumber he called them to him and told them, “The time has come when you should fulfil
your destiny and join with the sea.” And then he asked, “How will you fulfil your destiny?”
Being water nymphs they greatly desired to visit the ocean and to explore the great and mysterious
region of the Celtic Sea and the wonders that lay beyond. It is very often the case with sisters that each
will have different personalities and strong characteristics and express their individuality in different
ways. The choice each sister would make for themselves would be an expression of their unique
personalities and individuality.

Ystwyth’s choice
Ystwyth, was the smallest and was always in a hurry and made decisions and accomplished tasks in great
haste. As might be expected she quickly made up her mind that she would join the sea by the quickest
and shortest route. Stepping forward she told her father, “I long to see the sea, to smell the salt air and

6
see the sun rise and set over its wide waters. I would go west by the shortest
and the quickest route I can find to the sea to fulfil my destiny.”
“Then goodbye and go and fulfil your destiny and know that we shall meet
again!” her father said, kissing and her embracing her. Saying her goodbyes to
her sisters she skipped and danced down the mountainside, drawing strength
and speed from the small brooks and streams from her father’s side and
flowed westerly, sparkling and shimmering through the land of Wales reaching
the sea much faster than her two sisters ever would. The people who lived in
the lands she flowed through called her the River Ystwyth and she arrived at
the sea fulfilling her destiny at a place now called Aberystwyth that was
named after her.
Hafren’s choice
Then Hafren stepped forward. She said she was in no great hurry and wanted to take a good look at the
countryside and to see the cities of humans and flow through their kingdoms. She told her father, “I
would choose to roam over the land taking the long way to the sea. Then I could meet other waters of the
land and learn the wisdom of the earth. I would wander through the great cities, the beautiful towns and
the villages of the fair people and learn what I could of their ways before I rendezvous with my sisters in
the sea. I have no need for haste and wish to learn and take my time. On my way, I will water and nourish
the meadows of those fair folk but woe betide them should they abuse my good nature. This is how I want
to fulfil my destiny.”
Then her father kissed and embraced her and said, “Then go now and fulfil your destiny and know that we
shall meet again!”

7
Saying goodbye to her remaining sister, she did exactly as she said she would. She took her time and
wandered through the landscape visiting some of the wonderful cities, towns, and villages along the way
before she eventually joined with the Celtic Sea. Her flow became known as the River Severn that glides
serenely through the land to join the sea in the Bristol Channel. True to her word those who abused her
by setting their buildings and homes too close to her banks, or by invading her water pastures caused her
to rise up and inundate them but she fulfils her destiny as she should.

8
Gwy’s choice
The giant turned to his last daughter, Gwy as she watched her two sisters go their separate ways
saying, “And now it’s your turn. What direction do you choose for yourself?”
Gwy was not in such a hurry as Ystwyth and unlike Hafren who yearned for knowledge she was more
inclined towards beauty. She decided she would like to visit some of the beautiful countryside before she
joined with the sea. She stepped forward and kissed her father saying, “Ystywyth is in a hurry to join the
sea. Hafren seeks knowledge and experience. Beauty and harmony with nature are what I seek. I will seek
a way to the sea through the valleys and forests and all creatures shall find in my flow a place of peace and
fulfilment and a sanctuary where their needs shall be met. I will bring happiness and tranquility where
ever I go.”

9
Her father smiled kissed and embraced his daughter and said, “Goodbye. Go and fulfil your destiny and know that
we shall meet again!”

So Gwy flowed down the mountain and happily wandered through the valleys and the forests visiting the prettiest
of the countryside before she eventually joined with the sea. Gwy would become known by the people who lived
along her flow as the River Wye and join up with her sister Hafren at a place now known as the Severn Estuary. No
doubt as the two sisters continued their journey through the Bristol Channel they found much to talk about
together and to tell their hasty sister Ystwyth when they finally all met up again in the Celtic Sea.

10
The Giant Sleeps
The giant, although he knew he would miss his daughters, was happy because he knew they were
fulfilling their destiny in the great scheme of things. He had watched for time untold as they had been
born from the Welsh mists and rain that often covered the mountainsides forming droplets on plants and
rocks which collected together to form puddles. These would eventual gather moss and became pools
ready to overflow into brooks and streams that would join together to flow over the land to the sea.
He was not sad because he knew that in the great cycle his daughters would return and visit him riding
in the clouds that formed high above the ocean. They would then be blown across the sea to the land to
fall as rain on the mountainside. They would stay for a time before once again making their way to the
sea. And so the great cycle would continue bringing nourishment and life to the land and all living things
that dwell upon it. Feeling satisfied that all was as it should be the giant went to sleep.

11
There are echoes of the myth of the river nymph Hafren, or Sabrina to give her her Latin name, in the
local culture. As well as numerous houses and businesses with the word ‘Severn’ in their title, we see
references to Sabrina in the name of a house overlooking the Severn, and in various statues, such as the
carved figure of Hafren, forming a circle of Welsh mythological and historical figures at the Old Station in
Tintern. In Chepstow, at the mouth of the Severn and Wye, the phrase from the Book of Ezekiel (47:9),
‘Where the river flows, everything will live’, is engraved on a plaque as part of the town walking trail, and
is taken as a motto for a local parish magazine.

12
One would not wish to swim in the lower river Severn, not least as the construction of the two bridges
has increased the range of the mud flats and decreased the soil and grass along its banks. The tidal range
and ever shifting sand bars also make it extremely dangerous. However, a popular tourist attraction is the
Severn Bore, a wave that sweeps up the Severn Estuary at high tide. The five mile wide estuary narrows
into a river channel below Gloucester and the funnelling effect causes a wave that can reach up to 10ft in
midstream and travel up to 13mph.The bore is popular with surfers, with the best rides covering a
distance of 21 miles from Awre to Maisemore Weir. There are about 260 bores a year, two a day for
around 130 days a year, around the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Timetables are printed indicating the
dates and times of the highest tides, and public houses along the route benefit from the trade of those
who come to witness the phenomenon, as well as those who choose to ride the wave. As the Plastic Free
Chepstow sign makes clear, pollution is a problem on the Severn, as elsewhere in the UK.

13
As well as raw sewage frequently discharged into the Wye and Severn, agricultural run-off and plastic
pollution, there is a much more insidious danger to the river. It is almost a taboo subject locally. An
otherwise excellent website about the River Severn for primary school children
(http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/riversevern/severnbore.html) that covers its geology, history
and use, does not mention it. People don’t want to talk about it or even think about it. I am referring to
the presence of three nuclear power stations on the East bank of the Lower Severn and Severn Estuary, at
Berkeley, Oldbury and Hinkley Point in Somerset. The power stations have built large retaining walls way
out into the river for the water they need to cool the plants, which are covered at high tide, forming a
hazard to shipping. It has long been known that the villages of the Lower Severn and areas downwind (i.e.
northeast of the power stations, around Stroud) are leukaemia hot spots.

14
The Severn Estuary is ideal for the creation of tidal lagoons, as outlined in a report on the future of energy
generation in the South West commissioned by the Green Euro MP Molly Scott Cato (1), written by
Andrew Clarke of Resilient Energy (2). Just upstream from Berkeley Power Station, which takes mid-level
nuclear waste from all over the United Kingdom, is the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge,
founded by Sir Peter Scott. It is an internationally renowned habitat for migrating and local waterfowl.
Tidal lagoons would be clean, good for wildlife, and create new wetland habitats. UK government policy
over many years has been heavily invested in the nuclear industry both for the generation of fuel and for
weapons-grade plutonium. For a young mother, Barbara French, some twenty years ago, it was the threat
of radiation sickness that led to the formation of STAND, and decades of engagement with the nuclear
energy industry on the Severn.

(1) https://mollymep.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/power-to-transform_leaflet_pages.pdf
(2) https://mollymep.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-power-to-transform-the-South-West_FINAL1.pdf

15
The more Barbara researched nuclear power and engaged with the stakeholder’s group run by the
nuclear power industry, the more convinced she became that the public were simply unaware of the
dangers the power stations posed. Whether it is the transport of nuclear waste by road, the admission
that the technology for encasing and containing existing waste is inadequate, the lack of skills needed for
decommissioning into the future, or the financial cuts made at the expense of safety, her alarm grew. One
annual event to raise public awareness is a memorial for Fukushima Day at Lydney Docks, opposite
Berkeley nuclear power station. The lack of public awareness is mirrored by lack of council preparedness.
When as a Green parish councillor I tried to find out what contingency plans existed in the case of an
accident I discovered that responsibility lay with the County Council, who appeared to have no plans. In
theory they would liaise with emergency services, but local emergency services appear unaware of any
contingency planning. I wrote report for the local council which I eventually published on-line as my
fellow councillors objected that it was ‘too political’ to publish.

16
When I interviewed Barbara French recently at her home in Brockweir, above the Wye, one could be
forgiven for thinking that the problems of nuclear power were many miles away. This ‘out-of-sight-out-of-
mind’ thinking is powerful, but Barbara was well aware that the power stations were less than five miles
from her home, over the brow of the hill and across the Severn. I asked if she regretted that her life had
been so dominated by the David and Goliath battle against a powerful industry and the local habit of
denial. She did not regret withholding her children from school trips that involved walking along the
banks of the Severn, but did wonder if perhaps she had gone too far when on holiday. While other
children happily made sandcastles, she admitted that hers had been encouraged to build sand CND signs
on the beach.

17
The tendency to focus on visual images that are easy to assimilate, while ignoring a monster that lurks
unseen, was brought home to me with another energy campaign. This time it was work done by Resilient
Energy, a local, award-winning community energy company, and their proposal to build a wind turbine.
The business model is one in which the construction is funded by small investors, most of whom are local,
and a proportion of the profits are spent on local community projects. A small number of residents
mounted a lengthy campaign based on an extraordinary degree of misinformation. At every stage when
surveys were conducted, the support for the turbine, including those in the immediate vicinity of the site,
far outnumbered those who opposed it. Although approved by the local council and passing all
environmental audits, the project is awaiting a third High Court hearing in July. The legal grounds being
argued are not the merits or otherwise of onshore wind turbines, but whether a community benefit is
permissible as a material consideration in planning law.

18
The irony of the situation and priority given to visual stimuli over environmental considerations was
brought home to me in the mock-up produced by the protestors who saw no contradiction between
opposing the production of clean energy that would benefit the local community, as well as the wider
environment, while ignoring Oldbury nuclear power station, which presents a far greater threat. Oldbury
is one of a number of power stations around the world bought by the Japanese firm Hitachi. With
Japanese public opinion still against nuclear generation after the Fukushima disaster, they have been
seeking alternative sites to generate nuclear power. When asking locals who are in favour of nuclear
energy what they think when they look at the power station one said that she liked to imagine that it is a
castle. Another commented that it looks pretty lit up at night.

19
A local news site produced this picture of a huntsman outside the Magnox nuclear power station at
Oldbury with the caption that this is in reality a ‘quaint rural scene’. Nuclear power stations need vast
amounts of water and ideally low population densities to operate, so most are in fact in rural, otherwise
quiet areas, where the promise of jobs buys local support.

20
I interviewed Richard, the local coastguard and Hadyn from SARA at their places of work. The buildings
are a handshake apart, under the Severn Bridge at Beachley Point where the Wye and Severn meet and
flow into the Severn Estuary. They have very close working relationships with a division of roles, SARA
having the boats and expertise in mud and silt, and the coastguard carries out mountain rescue and has
access to a helicopter. It was clear that they both loved their work and the River Severn. Rather alarmingly
they were unaware of any contingency planning or any way of alerting the local population in the case of
a nuclear accident. When I asked Haydn from SARA what would happen in the case of a leak or fire from
Berkeley or Oldbury power stations his response was that he hoped he would die quickly rather than
slowly over generations. If it had not been built he might have protested, he said, but as it was already
there he preferred not to think about it. He was well aware that any accident would be likely to lay waste
to the area and wanted a quick rather than lingering death. We are like those living on the sides of a live
volcano or on the San Andreas fault in California. One knows that it is unlikely to end well but still take the
risk.

21
Haydn definitely has the best view. From the SARA office one can see the boat slipway, which once
launched the car ferry prior to the construction of the Severn Bridge, and a panoramic view of the river
and Eastern shore line. Although the vibration from vehicles overhead could be felt as well as heard, the
bridge is universally regarded with pride and affection, both for its beauty and for its central role in
connecting the people of Chepstow and the Gloucestershire side of the Wye with Bristol and the rest of
South West England. Watching the wildlife – seals and birds, as well as boats, flotsam and jetsam, on a
very peaceful river, is a major attraction for Haydn who, like all those who work for SARA, is a volunteer.

22
None of my interviewees professed particular religious views or mentioned the mythology associated
with the Severn, but each one in their own way made clear their love for the river and its environs. They
sometimes used religious language when talking about the river – its power to heal, to calm, to provide a
sense of perspective, as well as danger and adventure. Much of the work of SARA is rescuing people and
animals who have got into difficulties along the shore or on boats. Sometimes it ends in tragedy, as when
two local boys were drowned when they got cut off by the tide on Chapel Rock, and sometime well, as
when a missing person is found alive, or a canoeist who has passed the landing stage upstream is guided
to safety. Sadly much of their work is recovering the bodies of those who have jumped off one of the
many bridges. This is almost always both intentional and fatal. The work takes its toll on the crews, but
they find satisfaction in being able to bring finality for families who need to know what happened to their
loved one. It is such a common occurrence that the sound of the search and rescue helicopter or launch
of the SARA boat attracts only a passing note in the local paper when a body is pulled from the water.

23
A picture cannot convey the smells, the sights and sounds of this estuary and its very special atmosphere.
It is never boring as the weather, the tide and light are never the same. Each moment is simultaneously
unique and familiar. Perhaps the proximity of life and death, especially for those who live and work on the
Severn, can tell us something. For people like Richard and Haydn the tragedy of rescue work brings them
firmly into the present moment. Confronting the death of those in distress who have chosen to park their
car in the middle of a bridge and jump into its cold brown waters, or to walk out into the night and throw
themselves over the rail, raises the question of life’s brevity and impermanence. The distant prospect of a
nuclear accident might seem less pressing than the immediacy of their work. Others are simply in denial
about the state of the planet, climate change, or the need to rethink how we generate our energy. It is
easier to believe that the worst thing that can happen is to see a wind turbine from your window, while
ignoring fracking licences, quarrying, and nuclear expansion on your doorstep. Most people do care, but
caring enough to change is still the big challenge.

24
Uncomfortable Neighbours: Nuclear Power on the Severn
Dr Fiona Bowie
Figure 1 Berkeley nuclear power station
The history of the power stations
Residents of Tidenham Parish, particularly those who live along the River Severn, will be well aware of our two
nuclear power neighbours on the East bank of the river. Berkeley is six miles and Oldbury three miles from
Tidenham. Berkeley, the first Nuclear Power Station in the UK, operated between 1962 and 1989, and Oldbury, with
a lot of time
out for repair, from 1967 until 2011. During this
time both power stations routinely emitted radiation into the atmosphere and river as part of their day-to-day
function. There were some ‘incidents’ associated with both stations, and there are clusters of leukaemia that could
be associated with the radiation from the power stations on both sides of the Severn. In the 1980s it was disclosed
that six children under the age of seven living in and around Lydney had leukaemia. These were shown by
epidemiologists to be beyond the possibility of chance, with the assumption that there must be some

25
environmental factor. The levels of radiation at Berkeley power station as measured
at the perimeter fence, were consistently the highest of any nuclear plant in the UK.1
The intermediate-level waste from the decommissioning process at Oldbury over the
next few years will be stored at Berkeley.2 The four reactor buildings of Oldbury and
Berkeley will remain there for at least 100 years while they are being dismantled, an
unwelcome
legacy for our children’s children and their grandchildren.3
The work of the power stations
Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories were opened in the early 1960s and are still in
operation. Much work has been carried out there including extending the life of fuel
rods and the extraction of plutonium from Magnox materials for export to the US for
nuclear warheads. In 2014 an intermediate-level nuclear waste store was opened at
the Berkeley site. This takes Nuclear waste from five other power stations, including
Oldbury. The waste is being transported there by lorry from Oldbury, and by train
from the other nuclear power stations.
Risks and emergency planning
Nirex, the Government’s nuclear watchdog, reported in 2005 that due to the risk of
inundation or flood, storm surges and risk of coastal erosion, ‘a managed retreat from
the Oldbury and Berkeley sites over 100 years is possibly inevitable’.4 Since the 2005
report was published there is increasing evidence that sea levels are rising much
faster than was predicted ten years ago.5 Safety planning is the responsibility of
Magnox and Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire County Councils. Local
Authorities are required to have an ‘Offsite Emergency Plan’ to provide a framework
for coordinating a multi-agency response to an offsite nuclear emergency. Following
the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, nuclear facilities are also required to
carry out ‘Stress Tests’. These were completed for Berkeley and Oldbury in 2014 (the
reports are available on Magnox’s website). An EU Stress Test Report on Berkeley
power
station in October 2011 stated that: ‘It was recognised (prior to the Fukushima event)
that the ILW [Intermediate Level Waste] stored in underground concrete vaults...
would be at significant risk from site-wide flooding from the adjacent river’. At parish
level we have been asked to appoint flood wardens, but nuclear emergency planning
does not seem to have filtered down to form part of the parish level strategy. In fact
there is no evacuation plan, at Parish, District or County level, for Bristol, Chepstow
to build a new reactor on the Oldbury site of a relatively new, complex and untested
design. The two existing reactors in Japan of this type have had numerous problems
with more than 50% downtime. Terrorist attack and the theft or sale of fissible
nuclear material that could be used to make a ‘dirty bomb’ is another risk that cannot
be dismissed. There is no way of ultimately preventing weapons grade uranium
reaching the ‘wrong hands’, making our world an even more dangerous and unstable
place in which to live.
Why nuclear?
With problems relating to the long-term storage and safety of nuclear fuel unresolved
one might well ask why new nuclear power stations are being developed, at
considerable public expense? Uranium mining is, after all, dangerous for miners and
those living around the mines and environmentally catastrophic.9 I don’t have an
answer to this question, but it may have something to do with the Government’s
desire to please the City and large energy companies happy by keeping fuel prices
high.10 It could be an effort to reduce our reliance on polluting fossil fuels, but
support for shale gas extraction and reduction of the feed-in tariff for renewable
energy suggests otherwise. It is perhaps regarded as militarily necessary for the
production of weapon’s grade uranium?11 It is certainly not necessary in order to
‘keep the lights on’. The subsidies given to both fossil fuels and nuclear energy far
outweigh the cost of supporting renewable energy,12 which has the potential to
provide all our energy needs. An estimated 140 per cent of the energy requirements
of the Forest of Dean and over 100 per cent of the energy needs of Gloucestershire as
a whole could come from renewable sources.13 According to Friends of the Earth, in
the first quarter of 2015 nearly 23% of the total UK energy needs were met from
renewable sources, and there remains a huge untapped potential, with the prospect
of substantial job creation.
What can we do?
The spent uranium from Berkeley and Oldbury power stations will remain active and
dangerous for many generations to come. The threat it poses is something that we
need to be aware of and deal with today. Concerned residents of Tidenham Parish
might wish their Parish Council to consider what they should
do to ensure adequate radiation emergency plans are in place by addressing the
following questions:
How will we know if there is a radiation emergency?
recently become a combined group), which gives residents an opportunity to raise
any queries and concerns with Magnox. Councillor Helen Molyneux attends the group
to represent Forest of Dean District Council and Tidenham Parish Council, so any
queries can be raised via her, or at the meetings, which are open to members of the
public. The next meeting is on 28th October 2015, 1.00pm at the Gables Hotel, Bristol
Road, Falfield, GL12 8DL.14
An online version of this article will be made available on the Tidenham Parish
website, with additional links for reference.
References
1 Evidence to Hinkley C enquiry 1987 by SCAR (Severnside Campaign Against
Radiation) now STAND (Severnside Together Against Nuclear Development).
www.nuclearsevernsideside.co.uk.
2 The Gloucestershire Gazette, ‘Berkeley Waste’, 24 April 2014.
3 World Nuclear News (official organ of the nuclear industry), Magnox
Decommissioning Manoeuvres, paragraph 8, 18 March 2013.
4 NIREX official government report published 2005, The effect of rising sea levels on
nuclear installations in the UK. The Guardian, ‘Floods: A disaster waiting to happen?’
27 June 2013
5 National Geographic, 2015. ‘Sea Level Rise. Ocean Levels Are Getting Higher – Can
We Do Anything About It?’ “Core samples, tide gauge readings, and, most recently,
satellite measurements tell us that over the past century, the Global Mean Sea Level
(GMSL) has risen by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters). However, the annual rate of
rise over the past 20 years has been 0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year, roughly
twice the average speed of the preceding 80 years”.
http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/
6 BBC TV Inside Out West, ‘Has Bristol an Evacuation Plan?’ 17 December 2012.
Scientific American, ‘It's Not Just Fukushima: Mass Disaster Evacuations Challenge
Planners’, 2 March 2012. Daily Telegraph, ‘Fukushima meltdown is warning to the
world, says nuclear plant operator’, 19 November 2013.
7 Fukushima on the Globe, ‘Evacuation Orders and Restricted Areas’, 5 September
2015. The Guardian,’Fukushima nuclear disaster: Three years on 120,000 evacuees
remain uprooted’, 10 September 2014.
8 ‘Britain's farmers still restricted by Chernobyl nuclear fallout’, Terry Macalister and
Helen Carter, The Guardian, 12 May 2009. Over four million sheep were affected on
10 ‘Renewable energy sacrificed on the altar of corporate profit’. Oliver Tickell, The
Ecologist, 22nd July 2015.
11 The military argument is suggested by the outdated design of the proposed
Hinkley C nuclear reactor in Somerset, which will use uranium (instead of thorium)
which feeds the nuclear weapons industry.
12 ‘Growth at all costs: climate change, fossil fuel subsidies and the Treasury’, Juliette
Jowitt, The Guardian, 24.5.2015. “The IMF’s latest analysis estimates that the UK will
spend about US$41 billion (£26 billion), equivalent to 1.37 per cent of its GDP, on
subsidies for fossil fuels this year”. Bob Ward, London School of Economics, British
Politics and Policy Blog, 18.8.2015.
13 The Power to Transform the South West. A report commissioned by Molly Scott
Cato MEP. Andrew Clarke, The Resilience Centre, September 2015.
14 With thanks to John and Barbara French of STAND, Forest of Dean Green Party
District Councillor Chris McFarling, and Karen Rushworth, District Emergency Planning
Liaison Officer at the Forest of Dean District Council for much of this information.