Secret Scotland

Taking place at the Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy, the Techno Games event is set to see more than 100 children from primary schools take part in a robot building competition. The challenge will take place 34 teams of children, over three events, asssult, sumo, and football.

In preparation for the event, a travelling ‘Robot Roadshow’ has already visited the schools involved, and passed on skills that will be needed in order to take part.

Seen in the BBC’s Robots Wars series, Professor Ian Watts will also be taking part, and a Dalek from Dr Who will also be visiting the competition.

Interest will be high in the coming weeks, as the National Archive prepares to release hundreds of MoD documents relating to UFO sighting reported across the country.

The files date back more than 10 years, and contain information relating to sightings reported by the public, together with any pictures or drawing they provided at the time, and a reference to any nearby air activity that may have been taking place at the same time. The files do not contain any scientific data, and the MoD has concluded in the past that such sighting can usually be attributed to natural phenomena, or known activity, leaving very few that may really be described as ‘unidentified’, but there are a few.

Bonnybridge is likely to feature significantly in the files, as this has been credited with being a hotspot for such activity, but one can help but wonder why the same people succeed in making sightings, and just why aliens (if we assume them to be the owners/source of the sightings) should be quite so careless as to let themselves be seen at just one spot, if they can hide themselves so well elsewhere. Ditto if it’s the military, employed in covert activities.

The sightings may be unidentified, but that doesn’t mean they don’t take place, nor does it make them alien, or conspiracies,

I don’t usually get worried about most reports of incidents on nuclear sites, generally over-emphasised to sensationalise them and make sure they get noticed. However, a recent news item had my collys wobbling a little more than usual.

According to the report, management fear that someone could be injured if driving standards are not improved, with staff observed to be speeding, using mobile phones, and ignoring pedestrians at crossings, with 30 Highway Code violations reported in the past year.

The company’s newspaper noted staff and contractors were not meeting the challenge of driving responsibly, and that offenders were to face a one month ban for their vehicles from the site, meaning a long hike from the site car park.

This worries me deeply because I happen to have worked on many large industrial sites as a contractor - though I’ve largely avoided nuclear oddly enough.

Visiting the likes of shipyards and docks (including active military sites) and fabrication yards, and needing vehicular access to get test equipment in place, I’ve never been unclear as to what action would follow if it I didn’t follow the site driving procedure, which in some cases meant driving at walking pace only, with headlights and hazard lights on at all times. I’ve also driven into pharmacological factories, and explosives manufacturing facilities, both if which allow only diesel vehicles, and reserve the right to search you for matches, lighters and the like.

I’m both amazed and worried that on a site dealing with nuclear materials and processes that this article even needs to be raised, and it signals basic failures in both management and employee mindsets simply by existing at all.

I’ve never favoured the option of sacking people to solve a problem, people only learn by making mistakes, but I think there should be heads rolling on both sides of the table at Dounreay over this, and be seen to be rolling too.

If this is truly an example of how some people are prepared to behave within the grounds of such a facility, then I think a phrase like ‘Be afraid, be very afraid’ come all too quickly to mind.

In a couple of unrelated stories, it would seem that those taking to the country could be being stressed, and being stressed by, the local wildlife in the areas they wish to carry out their recreational activities.

The capercaillie is a relatively rare bird, a member of the grouse family, and around the size if a turkey. Becoming more numerous, it had been approaching extinction in Scotland at one time. Unfortunately for the bird, activities such as skiing, tourism and hill walking are being said to harm the birds by increasing their stress levels, and reducing their fitness. Experts have suggested that walkers and hikers can upset the birds, which are described as ‘very sensitive’, and should avoid them until the autumn, and avoid them when they are nesting, earlier in the year.

Conversely, ramblers on a coastal path neat the Castle Golf Course at St Andrews are said to be having their day out ruined by the local cattle. Grazing across the path, the animals are said to be causing the path to become boggy, and impossible to negotiate. The path was opened in 2002, and crosses the farmer’s land, where he is entitled to graze his cattle, and there have been attempts to place stepping stones, but the wet weather and churning of the ground as the cattle feed have an inevitable effect. Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, which maintains the route, said the grazing was needed to maintain the ‘botanical diversity’ of the area, and that they were looking for ‘innovative solutions’ to improve the path and ensure the site flourishes.

In an interesting start to the week, a number of green or renewable energy plans led the news feeds:

Green Fuel Plant

A £24 million plant is to be constructed in Easter Ross. This will eventually make 100,000 tonnes of wood pellets from wood fibre and sawdust, enough to heat 20,000 homes. Quoting the usual ‘job-creation’ numbers, the project will is said to bring 307 indirect jobs, and 38 full time jobs to the area. The plant will be built on the former site of the Alcan smelter at Cromarty Industrial Park, Invergordon.

Big battery company

Plurion, a company which makes big batteries, or rather MASSIVE batteries, is moving from its original laboratory in Glenrothes, Fife, to Levenmouth, and the Methil Energy Park. Its batteries are similar in size to a 40 ft container, and are described as being able to power a small village. The company is developing an innovative technology using organic acids to provide previously impractical material couples to be used to provide higher cell voltages, and less polluting battery constructions. Their batteries can provide an effective storage medium to provide peak demand supplies, and storage for renewable energy schemes with variable generating capacity.

But, Energy Saving Day flops

By way of contrast (and not confined to Scotland), the UK’s first Energy Saving Day did little more than confirm that despite making noises to the contrary, no-one really cares about saving energy if it inconveniences or affect them. It’s something that ‘Somebody’ should be doing, and they’ll join in as soon as they can (be bothered).

E-Day wasn’t publicised much either, and the end result was that on the day, the Grid showed a +0.1% consumption, compared to the usual predicted.

The result was easily predictable, and no great surprise to anyone that follows such things, as the UK has been cast as the ‘Top of the Energy Wasters League’ since at least 2006.