Green Party condemns Government approval for nuclear power
09 January 2008
Green Party MEP and Principal Speaker Caroline Lucas has condemned New Labour's "love affair with nuclear" as "a dangerous, irresponsible and costly distraction from the real challenge of tackling climate change", on the eve of a Government decision which will spark a new generation of nuclear facilities in the UK.
She said: "Gordon Brown is guilty of the most staggering failure of political vision. The reason that Germany has 300 times as much solar power and 10 times as much wind power than the UK is simply because German politicians, led by the Greens, have had the political will to lead the way. And on energy efficiency, the government's own figures show there is the potential to save over 30% of all energy used in the UK solely through efficiency measures that would also save money overall.
"It simply isn't true that nuclear power is the answer to the so-called energy gap we face over the next 10 years, since the earliest that a new nuclear power station could come on stream is around 2017. And even if Britain built ten new reactors, it's been estimated that nuclear power can only deliver a 4 per cent cut in carbon emissions some time after 2025."
Green Principal Speaker Dr Derek Wall added:
"I cannot condemn this strongly enough. The decision to allow new build nuclear power stations smacks of Government fudging - when they had the chance to send Britain down the carbon free road, they blew it.
"What the British people demand is cheap, clean and green energy - not an expensive, carbon emitting, dirty energy that does nothing the UK's energy insecurity that will leave a disgraceful legacy of nuclear waste for our children. Taxpayers will be picking up the bill for decades and the radioactive waste will be polluting Britain for millions of years.
"Nuclear energy will not begin to tackle the problems in the next decade - the most critical period for global warming action. It just provides a climate change fig-leaf for the Government to hide behind.
"It is neither carbon free, clean, safe or cost effctive - a strange decision from a Government besotted with free-market economics and profit driven industries.
"The existing nuclear programme cost £50 billion to build and produced 20% of our power in the UK. The whole of Europe could be run on wind power for that amount. (1)
"The Green Party promises a mammoth investment programme and full government support for a comprehensive programme of clean, sustainable energy.
"If the enormous and needless cost required by a new nuclear power programme were to be made available to energy efficiency measures, renewable energy technologies, community combined heat and power plants, and microgeneration, it would achieve greater long-term emissions reduction with total energy security, job creation and electricity that will stop the lights going out - without the nuclear drawbacks."
ENDS
Notes for editor
