Dear  Crisis Forum  friends and associates,

For a little while we have  been pondering what to do about  what looks like
a  renewed British government  interest in  nuclear power as a response to
climate change. We appreciate that you may not all be of one mind on this
issue, or indeed, if you live and work outside the UK, may feel remote from
this development.  For the founders of Crisis Forum,  however, the
revitalisation of the nuclear option, is  both very significant  and one to
which we personally can respond only in the most unequivocally damning way :
this is a red herring in the climate change debate but an extremely
dangerous one which has to be opposed.  We proposed  a few weeks ago, when
it looked like some sort of UK green alliance might be developing to
challenge this new direction,  that Crisis Forum might be able to assist
through  the bringing together of  expert opinion among university as well
as independent researchers, in the form of a  'document' on why the nuclear
option is the wrong one,  which could then be made accessible to  opinion
formers and  policy makers.

We do not intend this as 'the answer' the problem,  just a small cog in a
much bigger campaigning arsenal  to which people  doing relevant research in
 universities and elsewhere might be willing and able to make contributions.

So far, the broader alliance has not arisen.  However,  Crisis Forum  has
decided to take its own initiative on the matter by setting up a section on
our website specifically on this issue and publishing on it any, preferably
terse and accessible, submissions, or links to existing useful resources,
from whatever disciplinary standpoint which challenges the alleged panacea
of nuclear power. Where there are  serious queries on the 'science' or
veracity of the articles/papers/statements  submitted we will be sending
them out them  for assessment.
But the key aim here is to set up a resource-base of useful materials which are:
a) accessible now, to as many people as possible
b) might be of use at a later stage in the 'game.'  i.e.  should the need/
moment arise.

So,  if you have anything you want to submit specifically for this  resource
base, please send to me and Marianne McKiggan our webmaster:  Marianne
McKiggan <[log in to unmask]>and please encourage others who have
anything of value to contribute

Attached is an initial offering from Chris Busby of Green Audit
(http://www.greenaudit.org )just to give you an idea of the sort of material
we have in mind, though, we repeat, it could be from any disciplinary
perspective whatsoever.

I should add that while we are proposing to do this on the website,  we do
not assume to set an internal position on this matter and subscribers may
wish to debate the issue, as they choose, on the list.

thanks and best wishes to you all,
mark levene