Brown's nuclear plans spell disaster for national and environmental security, says Green Euro-MP
09 January 2008
Green MEP for South-East England Caroline Lucas has attacked 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.
Dr Lucas, a long-standing campaigner against the use of nuclear energy, condemned Gordon Brown ahead of the formal announcement to MPs tomorrow, in which Business Secretary John Hutton is expected to commit Britain to a future of nuclear power.
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.
"Gordon Brown should be looking at the real solutions that can reassure the British people that there are safer, more effective and more sustainable answers to the energy crisis, and inspiring a new direction on housing insulation, improved efficiency and renewables - not intimidating them into blindly accepting nuclear as our only option.
"New nuclear power stations will spell disaster for national and environmental security. It's not just the astronomical costs of cleaning up the deadly radioactive waste (already £70bn and rising), the risks from accidents or terrorist attack, or that switching to nuclear power couldn't possibly deliver sufficient CO2 cuts in time to meet our international commitments.
"Neither is it just the terrible signal we would send to the rest of the world that you can't tackle climate change without nuclear power, just at a time when the UN Security Council is bristling over Iran's insistence on maintaining its independent nuclear energy programme.
"No: the reality is that nuclear power is not just unsafe and unsustainable, it's entirely unnecessary. A combination of renewables, energy efficiency, decentralised energy and demand reduction will deliver emissions cuts and energy security much more safely and effectively.
"In my South East constituency alone, residents have expressed disgust at plans to build new nuclear facilities at Dungeness in Kent and those living near to such sites earmarked for development will now suffer the direct consequences of the Government's new nuclear push."
Dr Lucas continued: "The UK has a real opportunity to lead the way in the development of alternative sources of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, yet the Government prefers to hold on to its ambition of introducing more dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear power instead.
"Radical reforms are urgently needed to the way renewable energy technology development is supported in the UK. Government grants are derisory and the private sector currently invests just £250m a year in renewable energy technology when to significantly boost this industry we need to see more like £2.5 billion going into new projects."
