Archival nugget about TUC versus the anti-nukers…

Last week was, well, interesting. At some point I will write about it. For now, this – I spent two days at the National Archives (one of my happy places) and hauled away a couple of thousand pictures of pages from various (60 or 70? distinct folders – some literally a page, others 3 inches thick).

One of those pages was from AB 48/1908/1 “LOW ENERGY FUTURES – Correspondance on “A Low Energy Strategy for Britain” by Gerald Leach.

This was a file I’d had to FOIA, it having been “retained” by the ministry. I think this happens if something is Sensitive, or just by accident.

Anyhoos, there’s a LOT in there (again (at some point I will write about it). For now, this – It’s a single page from October 1980 of a monthly journal, presumably some gas/energy industry thing.

The unsigned article, with the tabloid title “TUC zaps hacks’ anti-nuclear bid” begins

“The Brighton TUC in September predictably turned down a valiant bid by the journalists’ union to overturn it long-established support for nuclear power. Despite a carefully controlled emotional appeal from former NUJ president Jack Ecclestone, “Why take risks to produce power we don’t need”, the big battalions led by the engineering workers’ union pressed for a steady home power station ordering programme, including nuclear, of at lest 2,000 megawatts per annum.”

Near the conclusion, we get observations that, almost 50 years later, stand up.

“Across the nuclear divide there is common ground on energy conservation, renewable energy sources and refurbishing of existing power stations in city centres, possibly for combined heat and power….. The TUC is adept in compositing apparently incompatible views but it will have to reckon with the miners, transport workers and other major unions who have committed themselves to anti-nuclear stances in the past but did not rock the boat this year.”

All the usual stuff – about impending blackouts, the need for Jobs and Growth etc etc – nothing that much changes, except of course the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Those just keep going up and up.