AN author’s debut novel set on the Clyde naval base at Faslane is likely to reignite the debate around nuclear weapons on Scottish soil.

And journalist, writer, environmental activist and academic, Dr Alex Lockwood, has hit on a novel way of attracting readers to The Chernobyl Privileges – he will be giving away copies in Edinburgh on Thursday and Glasgow the following day.

His book, which will be launched on Brexit Day – March 29 – explores the continuing controversy of the Trident missile system and its implications for independence, as well as its costs, safety problems and voter sensitivity.

It tells the story of Anthony Fahey, a survivor of the world’s worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, who grows up to be a radiation monitor at Faslane and has to confront his past trauma when an incident there triggers memories of the one that killed his parents. Lockwood, who grew up during the Cold War watching the post-apocalyptic docudrama Threads, said he had always been fascinated and terrified by the threat of nuclear weapons.

He told The National: “It is common sense to so many people that such weapons of mass destruction are wholly pointless.

“But the more I researched the matter, the more you discover that even many senior figures in the armed services don’t believe they’re needed, and they play absolutely no role in deterrence against the predominant threats that we may face, such as small scale terrorist activity.

“Beyond that, the cost, estimated up to £200 billion for replacement, is an absolute travesty, when we have lived through a decade of Tory-inflicted austerity.

“What I wanted to do was write a novel that moves along like a good novel must, but that wasn’t afraid of being political at the same time. And the book is a whistleblower narrative, a role that has become more

important in our current bureaucratic and corporate climate.”

Lockwood said he enjoyed connecting with people – one of the reasons he became a lecturer – and books are his “absolute passion”.

“I think the idea of being able to connect another person with a book that they might love is a really powerful and impactful things,” he said. “Books can change your life; they can change your outlook, give you knowledge that takes your thinking in a new direction.

“I’m not saying my novel will necessarily do that, but I don’t know. Some early readers have told me how they had to stop reading because of all the memories flooding back from the time of the Chernobyl disaster, and that it has made them think about and reflect on experiences they’ve not thought about for 30 years.”

The author, whose father grew up in Glasgow, said he hoped he had succeeded in writing a piece of fiction that exposed “all of the problems, costs, safety failures and issues with Britain’s nuclear weapons”, while telling a good story.

So, how will he identify recipients?

“I will look for people reading other contemporary fiction in cafes and bars, buses and trams. I’m really looking for people engrossed in their stories on lunchbreaks.

“To be honest, people are very wary of strangers approaching them these days, so in Edinburgh I’m taking my fellow writer Viccy Adams with me and her son Archer, and we’re going to get the toddler to break the ice.

“That, and asking people how they’re enjoying their current read.”