Nuclear power is not a viable option
28 September 2005
"Nuclear power is not a viable option," - Green Party Principal SpeakerKeith Taylor
Tony Blair's recent conference speech, in which he said nuclear power mustbe considered as a means of securing our energy supply 1 has provokedoutrage from the Green Party.
"The astronomical costs of a new nuclear power programme would divert moneyaway from creating a low-carbon economy, the real solution to globalwarming. A single power station costs billions to build, run anddecommission, and has to run for seven to ten years before it creates enoughenergy to cancel out the energy used just to establish it. The wind powerequivalent takes three to six months to do the same, " 2 commented GreenParty Principal Speaker Keith Taylor.
"Incidents such as Monday's closure of the Dounreay treatment plant after aleak demonstrate that even after 50 years of collaborative internationalresearch and an average spend in Britain of £230m per year over the last 25years, nuclear technology is not safe enough to be considered a viableoption - waste management alone poses questions we are still not able toanswer.3
"There is a ten-fold increase in cases of child leukaemia near Sellafield,an eight-fold increase near Dounreay, and a discernable increase near everysource of radioactive pollution in Europe. 4
"It is not too late to make renewable energy a powerful weapon againstclimate change. It is safe, economical, quickly built, and doesn't leave uswith piles of nuclear waste. We just need the political will."
ENDS
Notes for editors:
2 Report in Australasian Scientist. Available at: www.control.com.au
4 Paper in Energy and Environment. Available at:www.llrc.org
