New nuclear power stations on Government agenda?

New nuclear power stations on Government agenda?

The UK press has been full of speculation for over a year that the Government is ready to launch a new nuclear power programme. Over the first few months of 2005 many articles speculated that as soon as the General Election was out of the way in May, the Government would support the construction of new nuclear power stations.

But the Government published a new Energy White Paper as recently as February 2003. This was produced after the most wide-ranging and long-term energy review for decades. It concluded that the economics of nuclear power make it an unattractive option and there are important issues about nuclear waste which need to be resolved. So, although the White Paper did not rule out the nuclear option, it decided the focus should be on promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy.

 

Nuclear power produces nuclear waste, for which there is no solution. It will threaten ourselves and future generations for millions of years into the future. It carries with it the inherent risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident, spreading nuclear contamination far and wide. It routinely discharges nuclear waste into the environment threatening the health of those in the vicinity.

And nuclear power is expensive. The industry has been subsidised to the tune of billions of pounds over the last 50 years - and has failed to perform. Money spent on subsidising nuclear stations will suppress the emergence of new, clean renewable technologies.

A dirty dangerous technology is not a sustainable way to address the problem of climate change.