Nuclear connoisseur
Sir: As the connoisseur in question, I can assure David Fishlock (Letters, 7 Febru- ary) that I did not confuse the Flowers report with that of Roger Parker.
At the 1977 Windscale inquiry, Friends of the Earth argued that uranium prices would remain low; that dry storage was a feasible alternative to reprocessing; that the real costs of reprocessing would esca- late; that there would be no requirement for fast breeder reactors and that a decision on a new reprocessing plant (`Thorp') would be deferred for ten years. Parker rejected each of these arguments. Yet a decade later, with the construction of Thorp still not fully under way, the record shows that Friends of the Earth were right on every count.
It is already clear that Layfield is wrong on the economics of Sizewell. I have no doubt that in ten years' time it will equally be clear that he is wrong on both the safety and need arguments. All of which shows, yet again, that it is unwise to put too much trust in lawyers.
Tom Burke
Director, The Green Alliance, 60 Chandos Place, London WC2
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