Friday, December 14, 2007

Nuclear worker arrested with bomb

A worker at Sellafield nuclear processing plant was arrested this week "on suspicion of possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life" after police found a homemade bomb at his home.

Neighbours were evacuated after a "small, rudimentary explosive device" was discovered at the home of Sellafield worker Darren Morris on Monday in Southey Walk, Egremont, West Cumbria.

A bomb disposal squad was brought in and a 100-metre cordon put in place around the property. The device has been taken away for forensic examination.

This is amazing news. But....

The Low Carbon Kid wonders why there have been no front page tabloid headlines screaming "Worker at Nuclear Power Station Had Bomb" or "A-Bomb Terror Plot"???

Is it because the culprit isn't Muslim or even dark skinned, so he doesn't fit the stereotype of a "dangerous terrorist"?

He's already been released on bail - why not banged up for 28 days without charge?

Furthermore, is this not proof that nuclear sites provide targets or material for terrorists? Is the media coverage muted because of the government's pro-nuclear stance?

This is the second bomb scare for a reactor site in a period of under two months.

(The first, however, at the US Palo Verde nuclear reactor site, has been queried as being possibly a pro-nuclear stunt designed to show off to visiting inspectors how good the security was!)

4 comments:

neil craig said...

It appears that he was a "contractor who had recently done some work at Sellafield". Which suggests he may well also have done some work in a lot of other places too. In which case the headline could equally read "ASDA worker arrested" or "Guy who repaired Church Hall arrested". Obviously it isn't getting reportedd that way though if you actually planned to kill somewhat more than the 50 who died at Chernobyl a Church Hall, if you time it right, would be a fair idea.

DavidKThorpe said...

Oh, as long as he worked as ASDA that's alright then? Your complacency is beyond belief. What's this about a church hall? Are you mad? Only 50 died due to Chernobyl? Have you ever met any of the deformed children of Pripyat as I have?

This case deserves some answers, but I don't think we're going to get any until the Crime Prosecution Service makes its report. The guy doesn't have to post bail till 28 January.

I want to know:

On what grounds do the police decide if there are or are not terrorist or potential terrorist implications if an explosive device is found at someone's home, and how can they be confident in such a judgement?

The fact that Darren Morris had worked at Sellafield or was working there must surely be of great concern to local residents. Therefore:

Was he working at Sellafield at the same time as he had the device?
What part of the facility was he engaged in?
What type of device was it?
What was his intention in making it?
Did he intend to use it and how?
Why was he only released on bail?
Why was he not remanded under terrorist law?
How was he allowed to work inside a nuclear facility - did he have a background check?

Anonymous said...

So it wasn't 50 who died at Chernobyl.

Either you are mad or you are lying. To predict that 500,000 would die & be only wrong 10,000 fold is not technically insane it is merely an error, though an error of the general level of magnitude expected from eco-fascists. However to claim more than 50 have already happened is either deliberately lying or a failure to have any grip on reality ie madness.

Next you will be saying the eco-fascists didn't push for DDT bans or for that they didn't thereby kill over 50 million people.

DavidKThorpe said...

Neil you are paid by the nuclear industry and you make false accusations and smears.

A lie is a deliberate untruth. A prediction can never be a lie whether it turns about to be correct or not - it will merely have been incorrect. In any case I have never made a prediction about the number of deaths due to Chernobyl. Nor have I or will I discuss DDT as it has absolutely zilch to do with nuclear power or climate change, the subject of this blog, so I don't even know why you raise it.

We are talking here about a specific incident - a nuclear power worker being found with a bomb. You are changing the subject. Typical of someone who is losing an argument.

As for eco-fascism - you stand for corporate fascism. Letting big corporations ride roughshod over the lives of present and future living things without any democratic control.