I REFER to recent articles in the National and Sunday National regarding nuclear power and nuclear weapons in Scotland. The first was headlined “Safety warnings as cracks rise at Torness nuclear plant” (Sunday National, Jul 21) which reported on the increase to 46 of cracks which have appeared in the Torness nuclear reactor.

While this is a major safety issue in itself, the operator EDF is now planning to extend the life of the plant to 2030 rather than 2028 despite the Office for Nuclear Regulation stating that: “EDF would have to demonstrate Torness would be safe to operate beyond 2028”.

The second was a story headlined “Harvie warns of major devolution tests for GB energy schemes” (Sunday National, Jul 28) in which Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Greens co-leader, pointed out that the newly formed GB Energy will get involved in planning disputes and clarification is needed as to whether the UK Government could overrule the Scottish Government, particularly in regard to new nuclear power stations.

Patrick Harvie pointed out that finance could be diverted into non-viable projects such as small modular nuclear reactors. These are an unproven technology which has failed commercially in other countries.

READ MORE: Seamus Logan: Much about GB Energy still isn’t stacking up

It is also extremely concerning that at the launch of the Cromarty Firth and Inverness Freeport, Steve Chisholm, operations & Innovations director at Global Energy stated that the area was ideally placed for a move into manufacturing small modular reactors.

Another major concern on nuclear was the report headlines “Swinney must be ruthless and scrap Trident timeline says ex-SNP MP (Sunday National, July 14) which referred to comments made by Stewart McDonald in which he criticised the SNP policy of removing Trident nuclear weapons from Faslane in an independent Scotland within two years, which he did no think possible and urged the SNP not to have any “sacred cows” in future debates about policy. So whether these nuclear issues relate to nuclear power or nuclear weapons on Scottish soil, Highlands Against Nuclear Power (HANP) will continue its campaign to ensure that Torness nuclear power station is closed down as soon as possible; no new nuclear power stations are built in Scotland, including small modular reactors; that Trident is removed from an independent Scotland within two years; and that Scotland signs the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Treaty following independence.

At a recent online meeting with the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, involving 20 UK anti-nuclear NGOs, at which I represented HANP, we met with the Rt Hon Lord Hunt, the newly appointed Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero and I made the same demands to him and the new Labour Government.

We will be following their actions closely and HANP will continue to campaign to stop new nuclear developments of any kind in the Highlands and throughout Scotland.

Tor Justad
Chairperson, HANP Strathpeffer

I’M sure many thousands of Scots share Tony Perridge’s indignation at my rejection of Flower of Scotland being arbitrarily stated to be our national anthem (Letters, Aug 2). He rightly claims that “it raises feelings of pride in our country”, but that may be because that’s all we have been “offered” (although it feels more like a diktat by the SFA and SRU).

It also raises feelings of embarrassment. It was born in the folk clubs and pubs and, as I have agreed, is very popular, but that is not enough for our ancient nation. Another popular ditty, Scotland The Brave – much loved by seaside “summer show” audiences – used to be our “de facto anthem”.

Mr Perridge is, again, correct that “some folk wouldn’t like” ditching the “Flower” but I have complete confidence that a Scottish Government is capable of selecting the right people to study the matter and come up with proposals – existing or newly written – to lay before Parliament and the Scottish people. That, I suggest, is how proper countries would do it.

David Roche
Blairgowrie