Taylor became a public figure following the 1977 Windscale Inquiry into nuclear fuel reprocessing during which he exposed the risks of nuclear waste storage and mounted a successful campaign against radioactive discharges to the marine environment – his work was widely reported in the national press , New Scientist , The Ecologist and the New Internationalist . Between 1980 and 1992 he became an advisor to a wide spectrum of organisations , ranging from government agencies to environmental NGOs , appearing on TV and radio on issues of nuclear risk and pollution . His work uncovered the health impact of the Windscale Fire in 1957 - in the PERG report RR-7 , and in association with Yorkshire TV , the excess of childhood cancers around Sellafield . He served on the government commission into nuclear waste dumping at sea ( chaired by Sir Fred Holliday ) which recommended the practice be banned . He also sat on a research advisory group on nuclear waste management set up by the Department of Environment – resigning when he felt government were not allowing time for detailed comparative assessment of the options
Windscale Fire
Windscale fire
Peter Taylor (environmentalist)