The distressing events at the Fukushima power plant in Japan, should not lead to a change in UK policy towards nuclear power, a Kingston University expert said today.

Bahram Ghiassee, who lectures in Kingston’s School of Surveying is a qualified nuclear engineer and an expert in the law surrounding nuclear power plants.

“What has happened in Japan was the result of an earthquake, followed by a tsunami which was powerful enough to dismantle not just the cooling system but also the back-up cooling system. That sort of sequence of events is inconceivable in the UK.”

Dr Ghiassee has recently researched the justification for new power stations in the UK, their actual design, their location and the implications of the new reactors on nuclear proliferation.

One specific area he addressed was the threat of terrorism. “There are two ways in which terrorists might attempt to strike: sabotage – for example, by trying to fly a plane into a nuclear power station – or by stealing nuclear materials from a plant. Operators will have to prove they have satisfactorily addressed these risks before they start building a new power station and they will have to reassure the Health and Safety Executive’s nuclear inspectors again, before they are given a licence to start generating power.”

“The UK has very well structured systems in place, covering the transport of fuel to the stations and the security of nuclear materials on site.”

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne launched a consultation on the country’s energy provision in October with a view to producing a White Paper this Spring. The government hopes planning permission for the first new power stations will be granted in 2012, with the stations coming on line in 2018.

“In my view, Britain still needs nuclear power. It is essential as our energy base. Wind power is too weather dependent to provide that base, while the siting of turbines to harness tidal power is likely to be very controversial.”

Dr Ghiassee holds both a PhD in Nuclear Engineering and a Masters of Laws (LLM). He lectures in European, Environmental and Planning Law and Sustainable Development in Kingston University’s School of Surveying & Planning. He is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association, the International Nuclear Law Association (Brussels) and the Nuclear Institute (UK). His four papers on the legal aspects of nuclear power were published in Nuclear Future, the Journal of the Nuclear Institute between 2008 and December 2010.

For more information on Dr Ghiassee’s research, or to speak to him directly, please call the Kingston University Press Office on 020 8417 3166 or e-mail press@kingston.ac.uk .

Remember Top Trumps? The card game was a popular playground pastime in the days of space hoppers, chopper bikes and flared trousers – and has recently made a bit of a comeback. Originally Top Trump sets featured cars, planes, dinosaurs and footballers, while the modern ones are often linked to television programmes. Now a new version of the card classic has been launched by Kingston University focussing on a very different subject – sustainability.

In just the same way as traditional trumps compared the speed, length and weight of fighter jets or sports cars, Eco-Construction trumps look at the qualities of different construction materials – qualities such as the toxicity, durability and ease of recycling. New Aluminium, for example, trumps Steel on recyclability scoring 90 per cent but performs far less well in some of the other categories: it requires nearly five times as much energy to mine, manufacture and transport.

The game was developed as a teaching tool for surveying students by Kingston University PhD student John Clarke. “It took me six months to research and collate all the data for the cards,” Mr Clarke said. “At this stage, my calculations are provoking debate among sustainability experts, which I see as a very positive thing – I’m taking their feedback on board as I develop the cards”

Mr Clarke’s father was a builder so he grew up with an interest in construction and the built environment. He’s worked on sustainable construction projects in Japan and at the Centre for Alternative Technology at Machynlleth in mid-Wales and has taught at the Pestalozzi village in East Sussex which trains scholars from the developing world.

“When I became interested in eco-construction, one of my biggest challenges was to persuade my Dad,” he said. “He was a self-employed businessman who spent his working life trying to keep his costs manageable, so it took a while to persuade him that, what initially seemed a more expensive, sustainable building material could make more economic sense in the long run. But now Dad’s come round to my way of thinking, I’m confident I can win over anyone.”

The aim of the game is for players to try to take all their opponents’ cards. They do this by choosing a category from their top card which, they hope, will ‘trump’ the other players. For example, from the Concrete card, the player might choose to read “Landfill Decomposition – 50 years”. That would trump Roofing Felt, which takes 80 years to decompose, but not MDF, which takes just four years.

“John’s trumps are an excellent teaching tool,” Kingston University senior research fellow Paul Micklethwaite commented. “They get the point across that a material which offers an environmentally-preferable solution to one design challenge may not be appropriate for a different project. I always ask my students ‘is there such a thing as a sustainable material?’ – this game forces them to address that question head-on,” he added.

Kingston University’s School of Surveying and Planning has printed two thousand sets of the 33 card trumps for use as a teaching tool. Visitors to EcoBuild, the world’s largest event for showcasing sustainable design and construction practices, at the start of March, were also able to play the game. But Mr Clarke believes the cards have applications beyond education.

“I’m hoping they could be useful for builders or architects when specifying materials – either at the office or they could carry a pack of the cards in a jacket pocket as a quick reference guide to assess the viability of different materials,” he said.

Kingston University continues its excellent results in competitions by achieving 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th place in the London heats of ‘The Planning Student Quiz’. This annual event is run by The Planning Magazine who invited universities to enter teams for the quiz which is sponsored by the RPS Group. The quiz consists of regional heats taking place in February and March with the winning teams and runners up from each region being invited to take part in the grand final on the 23^rd March 2011.

The 3 teams competed against London universities, including UCL and Westminster, and answered questions about different aspects of planning in a pub-quiz style format. The winning team was awarded with a prize of £300 as well as the prestige of their achievement.

1^st and 2^nd place was achieved by The Last Bastion of Communism and PPS I Love You respectively. Both teams will continue onto the grand final which will be held on the 23^rd March 2011.

Majeed Neky, The Last Bastion of Communism said “We were surprised but very happy to have won and are really looking forward to the challenge of the grand final where we hope to uphold Kingston’s excellent reputation.”

All of the students who took part thoroughly enjoyed the evening and commented that they found the quiz fun. The social networking aspect afterwards gave them the opportunity to meet people from the planning industry as well as students from the other institutions and was a common highlight to those who attended the event.

“It was a tough competition and we were pleased to beat well established planning schools like UCL, it is a credit to the lecturers at Kinston, especially Charlotte and Georgia, that we were able to do so well” stated PPS I Love You.

Academic staff from the School of Surveying and Planning were pleased to hear about the success of their students. “I am absolutely delighted by the results and it is magnificent that Kingston had 3 teams in the top 4! I would like to give special congratulations to the teams going through to the grand final.”  Professor Sarah Sayce, Head of School.

Charlotte Harris, Field Leader for MA Planning and Sustainability said;

“It is great to know that our students are up there with those from other planning schools and it is to their credit that they took the initiative and involved themselves with a high profile event sponsored by RPS and organised by the journal, Planning. Well done to all the students who were prepared to participate and congratulations to  the teams that came first, second and fourth!”