[NukeNet] Scotland: Trident plan 'puts climate change research at risk'

[The Roy Process]

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Trident plan 'puts climate change research at risk'
A GENERATION of scientists will be diverted from fighting climate change because the Trident weapons system is being replaced, an expert has warned.

Thousands of highly trained scientists and engineers will be required to develop a new nuclear deterrent after a majority of MPs last week backed the government's controversial plans to renew the UK's ageing Trident missiles.

The proposals have sparked a major political and public backlash. The government was forced to depend on the Conservatives to win a vote on the issue last Wednesday after 95 Labour MPs rejected the plans.

Now Dr Stuart Robertson of Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), a group that represents more than 900 leading scientists and engineers, has told the Sunday Herald the diversion of expertise to Trident risks putting vital climate change research on the back burner.

He said: "We are very concerned that scientists will be diverted to Trident and used in that area for many years - this is happening at a time when there is an urgent need for professionals to be working on climate change, environmental sustainability and alternative energy.

"The government waxes lyrical about about their commitment to tackling environmental damage, but they are very willing to drive all of these skilled people away from work on climate change to a hugely expensive, flawed project."

SGR estimates around 3000 scientists and engineers from various disciplines will be recruited to work on Trident, at a time when official figures show the numbers of science graduates in the UK is falling. Between 1999 and 2005 the number of chemistry students dropped 20%, and maths students by 11%. Robertson also noted that government-funded research and development on alternative energy "is at very low levels" while spending on research for military applications is rising.

Robertson said major military projects have a tendency to attract bright minds because of the amount lavished on facilities and support staff - money industry and academia cannot match.

"The recruitment ads for scientists to work within the MoD very much emphasise that professionals will be able to work in cutting-edge science, which is attractive. Trident will cause an upscaling of that," he added.

Among those who share Robertson's fears is Edinburgh East MP Dr Gavin Strang. He said: "Trident means large numbers of physicists especially being drawn into working on the project. This is a real setback for their deployment in industries and universities.

"A lot is said about the technological opportunities climate change is bringing, but we will not get the benefit to industry if we can't get the experts to work on them because they are engaged in defence. That's bad news."

Professor Robert Hinde, chairman of the eminent Pugwash Group, an international movement of academics concerned about the social impact of science, said the problem is "huge".

"It has been estimated to me that the number of scientists and engineers diverted towards Trident will be in the thousands," he said.

However, Professor William Walker of the University of St Andrews, a specialist in nuclear weapons proliferation, disagreed that Trident will cause the effect Robertson predicts.

He said: "I don't believe that the number of scientists that will be used on Trident will be so high as to cause this concern. It's not as if the project involves designing new warheads, so the project won't need as many experts this time round."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence also vigorously denied that Trident would affect scientific research on climate change.

He said: "We disagree that scientists are a finite resource. Defence as a whole is the biggest employer of scientists and engineers in the UK and as such drives cutting-edge research and development across many areas "And frankly, we own the Met Office, which employs many experts working in the field of climate change. Without it we wouldn't even know that global warming was happening."

8:59pm Saturday 17th March 2007



By Jenifer Johnston


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