Million Year Pollution

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I TWO OF OUR SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT'S LOOK AT HAZARDS OF NUCLEAR ENI many accidents involving exposure society.

In our first article we focussed our attention on the more spectacular aspects of the hazards of the new generation of nuclear reactors.

But this is only part of the story. There are other safety questions which affect every worker in the new reactor plants and others who might well be at risk without knowing it.

The insidious long term effects of atomic radiation such as bone cancer, genetic damage, even when held within statutory limits, are far from clear.

OMINOUS

The issue centres around what is a safe does of radiation? Probably no dose of radiation is entirely without risk and evidence is accumulating to suggest that either present limits are too high or that to radiation go unreported or both.

In this latter regard the secrecy surrounding recent leaks at Windscale is ominous.

A preliminary analysis of causes of death of past employees at a large American nuclear plant has revealed a disproportionately high incidence of cancer.

No adequate study of mortality amongst nuclear power workers has been conducted in Britain.

The recent report of the National Radiological Protection Board which purports to show that "the number of cancer deaths in the working population at Windscale is not significantly different from that expected" is completely worthless.

The report covered only those who died whilst working at Windscale (amounting to a small fraction of those who ever worked there, omitting those who may have received a fatal dose of radiation but who died untraced in retirement or other jobs.

It is simply not possible to assess the long term hazards of exposure to radiation from short-term or incomplete studies such as this.

The situation can be likened to that which prevails with regard to the health hazards of asbestos fibres-once thought not be be associated with industrial diseases but now accepted as being one of the most dangerous substances in common use. The existing safety standard for asbestos fibres was devised in 1969, based on the mortality of 290 men in one Rochdale factory, and stated that "an acceptably low percentage of workers" were likely to develop asbestosis if the concentration of asbestos fibres was kept below2 fibres/c.c.

ASBESTOSIS

In 1968 about 3% of the Rochdale workers had asbestosis after exposure to concentrations of 3-6 fibres per cubic centimetre. By 1972 almost 10% of these workers had asbestosis and the number of cancers caused by asbestos fibres have still to be assessed. Yet the government's special advisory committee on asbestos has just published an interim report to the effect that it is not necessary to revise the existing standard!

Because plutonium can be used to make an atomic bomb some publicity has been devoted to the likelihood that an increase plutonium circulating around the world would pose a hazard in the form of "terrorists" who could steal sufficient to make a dangerous weapon.

SURVEILLANCE

To combat this possiblity, an increase in the surveillance of citizens has been proposed, including the introduction of identity cards and large numbers of secret police.

This is completely bogus and designed more to prevent justified unrest over the nature of capitalist Far more is to be feared from the use by capitalist governments of plutonium bombs against workers' states and national liberation movements.

In view of the phenomena! safety hazards associated with nuclear power generation, especially by FBR's and fuel reprocessing why do companies like British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) urge the development of these facilities with such obscene haste?

FBR's will substantially prolong the period over which uranium can provide an energy source. The energy yield of known and estiChilean army: more subtle met The political repercussions of the use of riot control technologies might well be less in 1979 than in 1972. We are continually seeing it on the TV from Italy, Spain, Germany and France.

The Irish war, indirectly through TV and directly through the Provisional's bombing campaign have all had a big effect.

In any case it would be simple for the Home Office to introduce riot-control technologies first, say, on a black crowd like the Notting Hill one last year.

This was the sort of logic used mated uranium ores would otherwise amount to no more than the yield from the present measured reserves of natural gas. This abundant source of energy is needed to fuel capitalist industry.

Reprocessing is needed to obtain the plutonium to fuel FBR's and for waste management. As a result of the proposed expansion of the Windscale reprocessing plant there will be up to 80% of its capacity spare after dealing with waste from the British reaction programme.

PROFIT

Hundreds of millions of pounds are potentially avalable as profit from the re-processing of the spent nuclear fuels of other countries.

BNFL want. to expand reprocessing in Britain as soon as possible because the United States, à major competitor in this field has a three year moratorium on foreign processing and they hope to corner the market. Further profits may be made from the export of FBR technology.

A guide to the profits that might be made is given by the fact that BNFL recently raised a : 1100 million loan trom a consortium of British and foreign banks. The interest on this loan will be paid for in workers lives hods of repression are now available show how the use of technologies is one more in a range of indirect means of repression capitalist states are increasingly being forced to use by their deteriorating economic and political situations-such as changes in the law, greater control of the media and of the education system.

The strength of the British working class is far too great for the ruling class to dare to employ in the foreseeable future the type of direct repressión used, for example, in Chile.

Increased indirect repression, though, is a very real threat.

bourgeois 'ecology' groups attempt to use fears of the hazards we have listed to oppose all nuclear technology, only a fool would turn his back on the problem. The fight must be taken up for controi over this new source of energy and its use.

*For elected trade union committees whose members are drawn from all industries to assess safety aspects of nuciear power generators.

*No further work on FBR's and other reactors and reprocessing until safety precautions are acceptable to these workers' committees.

*No further work on nuclear reactors until a safe and efficient means of disposal of existing and potential wastes is worked out.

*No redundancies in the nuclear industries-worksharing on full pay for those who cannot be transferred to research work pending these developments.

*For an increase in state spending on all aspects of research into the exploitation of nuclear power, under the control of elected workers committees.

*For full publication of details on known existing hazards and immediate compensation of victims of past unplanned 'experiments'

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Miners" delegates at the TUC Special Conference last June.

Throughout Wilson's attack on the working class, the 80 claimed members of the leftwing' Tribune Group offered absolutely no alternative to the right wing.

They gave craven support to the Social Contract. Indeed the furthest they would go was to abstain in a Parliamentary vote on spending cuts, bringing a defeat for the government.

But when Wilson immediately called their bluff by putting down a motion of confidence in his economic policies (which include cuts) the 'lefts' simply collapsed and voted with the government.

And when Wilson resigned as Prime Minister the 'left' even refused to put up a candidate in the leadership election - leaving the field clear for the compromised Benn and Foot to pose as opponents' of the right wing.

UNANIMOUS VOTE

March 1976 saw the first major strike against the Social Contract. Workers at SU. carburettors had actually won their increase from the management. The only thing stopping them from getting it was the £6 limit. The AUEW Executive ("lefts" and all) voted unanimously to instruct the men back to work, an instruction at first rejected by the Coventry AUEW District Committee.

It was by now clear that strikes such as this and the one at Tractors and Transmissions, although small OFIAN SWINDALE'S ARTICLE government must not be challenged in case it fell and the Tories were returned began to lose its effect within the working class. This was demonstrated in the decision, only one month after Phase II came into effect of the seamen to press a claim outside of the Social Contract.

STRIKEBREAKING ROLE The strikebreaking role of the TUC in its desperate efforts to retain the Social Contract now came to the fore, with the General Council threatening to expel the NUS from the TUC and scab on their strike if they did not comply with the 5%.

In the end the seamen's leaders, under this enormous pressure, accepted "fringe benefits" which seriously dented the Social Contract and posed the trade union bureaucracy with the difficult task of preventing a rash of further "fringe" claims.

The threat to the Social Contract that had been posed, resulted in the most serious sterling crisis in living memory. Again the Labour gövernment went to the IMF for yet another massive loan, the conditions for which were yet further drastic cuts in public spending- the very thing Healey said the Social Contract would avoid AHI In line with our analysis that wage controls were central to government strategy for tackling the crisis of profits facing capitalism, the WSL gave its full support to the setting up of the Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement, which called a conference of "Wage Control and Union Democracy" last October.

Bringing together 300 workers, the conference descussed a resolution detailing a programme for the crisis which would defend the living standards of workers and an analysis of the role of the trade union bureaucracy in suppressing democratic rights within the unions.

Further confirmation analysis that the working class did not accept Phase II and would continue to struggle on wages came in early December with the strike of 120 engineers at Rubery Owen demanding pay increases of €10£20 a week.

Aware of the pressure that the full time officials would place on them, the strikers excluded the union bureaucrats from their meetings and ignored all instructions to return to work from their union leaders.

COMPROMISE

When the strike ended 62 electricians struck for lay-off pay and Murray, Scanlon and other top union officials went in person to Rubery Owen to get a compromise settlement. Clearly it was getting near to impossible to defeat wages struggles without the direct intervention of the top bureaucrats.

It is true that small numbers of workers were involved in these pay disputes, but equally true was the lact that they represented the feelings of millions of workers, held back by the forbidding prospect of taking on employers, government and union leaders.

This was quickly borne out by a spontaneous demonstration of thousands of Leyland Longbridge workers against the Social Contract which resulted in motions demanding a return to free collective bargaining being put through union branches and shop stewards committees all over the co untry.

In the meantime the CDL: M had already decided to recall it: i conference on Wage Control and Union Democracy.

ONLY INITIATIVE The conference emerges as the only initiative at the present time calling for support for ali workers involved in struggle against the Social Contract and contrasts with the LCDTU conference where the Stalinists who dominated the proceedings, condemned sectional struggles (like the toolmakers) and refused to take a resolution supporting workers in struggle against the Social Contract.

The strike by Leyland toolmakers, and the sweeping aside of the bureaucracy, has thrown into question the ability of the trade union leaders and the government to maintain the Social Contract and has brought in its wake a governmental crisis which has only been resolved by an undeclared coalition with the Liberals.

The question now is how much longer will it be before the working class mounts fresh attacks on the Social Contract which will sweep the Labour-Liberal coalition out of office?

blatt's political party were particularly successful against the invad-