We've been watching a show on TV called Vigil. It's great: about a nuclear-powered submarine cruising in the North Sea and dealing with some problems aboard. We've seen two or three episodes and are hoping there will be a second series made this year.
The submarine is British, Vanguard class which I think is similar to the ones that Australia has ordered to be delivered over the next decades. That's by-the-by. What interests me is the reaction these UK submarines received from the people of the north of Scotland where they are based. They're not welcome and there is a continuing protest about the dangers of having nuclear reactors right beside where people are living.
Local news here in Australia is that the likely place for the Australian submarines to be based will be Port Kembla, in the midst of one of Australia's largest cities and just a stone's throw from the largest urban area in the country. Is this a good idea? Will the good people of Port Kembla march in the streets in protest? How will they feel when they become a target in a future war? And where will we store the waste? Not in my back yard is the cry.
Sometimes there are advantages in living in this far-flung outpost of Tasmania.
Port Kembla has been always been a target since the Steelworks were built. Also the second largest Port for the export of coal and other goods required for the manufacture of weapons of war.
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