This elephant may look acceptable, attractive even to some. But do not be persuaded to buy one as a pet. As the French and Finnish have found out, you will soon regret it!
This white elephant could lead to literally thousands of years of trouble for you, your children, and countless future generations…
Even if it grows to full maturity (despite decades of care, only two in the world ever have), it needs constant attention and meticulous care to keep it (and everything around it) safe. It can’t even go to the toilet unaided, needing to be shut down at least every 18-24 months for several weeks (or months if things go wrong) to extract and replace its incredibly radioactive ‘spent
fuel’.
Moreover, the ever-present possibility of sickness and diarrhoea is especially feared, as white elephant ‘leaks’ are particularly nasty and can lead to entire regions being unfit for habitation by humans for tens or hundreds of years.
It’s really unreliable too. Just when you think you’ve got the pet you had hoped for, it can develop cracks in its body parts which mean it may need many months of intensive care, perhaps even being placed in an induced coma, as has happened to a very close relative in China.
Worst of all, it’s almost impossible to get rid of even when it’s dead! These white elephants are so toxic, their vital organs and waste have to be kept securely for literally thousands of years. That’s really difficult because this waste can eat through concrete and corrode even the strongest metals. Despite lots of talk (for more than half a century, in fact), there’s not yet one place in the world that can safely store permanently the toxic waste and spent fuel that is generated by this elephant and its relatives. Mostly it’s dumped exactly where its produced, in vulnerable coastal locations, like Sizewell. What a legacy to leave for future generations - and just so that we can have the company of this ill-behaved elephant for a mere 60 years.
There are so many better ways to spend £20 billion than on this unreliable and difficult beast; ways that won’t harm people and the environment; that won’t spew out greenhouse gases until 2034 or beyond; that will be cheaper and more reliable; and that will grow to maturity much more quickly, genuinely helping to tackle climate change.
Feeding your Sizewell C White Elephant
This white elephant has a huge appetite. Although its diet consists mostly of vast quantities of concrete and enriched uranium, it’s also a destructive killer of wildlife. It will devour historic woodlands, trample rare wet woodlands and marshes, uproot protected shingle beaches, poison seas and massacre billions of fish. It threatens everything in its vicinity with its toxic presence. It’s also a prolific digger and likes to dump 35 meter high spoil piles (5 x the height of this building) and huge borrow pits in the landscape.
It needs a gargantuan amount of water too: when mature, around 2 million litres a day - and twice this amount while it is growing! Be sure to ensure you have the necessary supplies of water before even thinking about investing in this elephant.
And don’t forget, it needs even greater quantities of sea water - nearly 10 billion litres every single day - just to keep it cool, or it becomes really overheated and dangerous. Your white elephant could even melt down.
Click on Sizewell C needs YOU to continue your tour
Or go straight to individual artworks:
C Beyond introduction - NO NO NO (hopes for our children) - The Elephant in the Room - Jayne Ivimey's Bird by Bird
The Sizewell C White Elephant - Sizewell C needs YOU - Out of Order - Battered Seafood - Nuclear island?
Walking at the Edge - C Views - Sizewell Scud - #sizewellcnot4me
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