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Say no to nuclear

Government plans for more nuclear power plants

"The only conclusion we can draw is that the government‘s only concern is pandering to the multi-million pound nuclear lobby and ensuring they meet the timescales of the private companies that stand to benefit from contracts to build new nuclear power stations.” PCS assistant general secretary Chris Baugh

Read Chris Baugh's nuclear blog on the Tenner Films website

On 11 November 2009 the Labour government announced 10 sites for the next generation of nuclear power plants.

The then energy and climate secretary, Ed Miliband, said nuclear power was essential to combat climate change and to ensure energy security and described it as a "proven, reliable source of low carbon energy". He said the first new plants could be up and running by 2018. See the Guardian website for the full story.

Responding to the announcement, Greenpeace said: " The figures simply don't add up. Even the Thatcher government realised this. It was exactly 20 years ago to the day that they pulled nuclear plants from the energy privatisation scheme when they realised that nuclear power was not an attractive investment for private companies. And it still isn't.

"You can't justify building more nuclear power stations when there is no solution to radioactive waste and when international regulators are saying there are huge uncertainties surrounding the basic safety of new reactor designs." See the Greenpeace website for the full press release.

The present energy and climate secretary Chris Huhne has said the coalition government supports an energy mix of more nuclear, oil and gas and renewable energy and is "on course to make sure that the first new nuclear power station opens on time in 2018".

However the secretary of state also stressed there was no money for state subsidies for a new generation of nuclear power plants.

A recent opinion poll carried out by Cardiff University/Ipsos MORI found that just 38 per cent of respondents believed the benefits of nuclear power outweighed the risks. Only 39 per cent trusted the industry to run the plants safely.

Greenpeace and PCS challenge new nuclear reactors

PCS believes there should be increased investment in clean, renewable technologies that would create more green  jobs rather a new generation of nuclear power stations.

In 2006 PCS supported Greenpeace in a judicial review of the government’s energy review, The Energy Challenge, on the grounds of failing to consult properly on plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations. In a resounding victory Greenpeace won the case.

After losing the High Court challenge the government published a second consultation, The Future of Nuclear Power, in May 2007. Greenpeace along with Friends of the Earth, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), CND and members of the Green Alliance pulled out of this consultation alleging that it was inaccurate, biased and misleading - an attempt "to spin us into accepting new nuclear power plants." 

Greenpeace believed the consultation was fixed by the market research company carrying it out and lodged an offical complaint with the Market Standards Research Board (MRSB), supported by PCS.

People who attended a series of consultation events in September 2007 complained about their biased nature.

One said she left the event furious about "the government's blatant marketing of nuclear power". For example, Greenpeace have said the fact that a new generation of nuclear reactors could cut our carbon emissions by only 4 per cent was buried at the back of a huge pile of information that participants had to digest on the day.

Greenpeace claimed the company broke its industry's own code of conduct by designing questions and materials that were deliberately misleading and factually inaccurate.

On 19 September 2007 Channel 4 News ran a feature in which it reported that twenty senior academics would be writing to the government because they believe the process was "deliberately skewed" and that participants were "misled".

In October 2008 the Marketing Research Standards Board upheld Greenpeace's complaint that a second public consultation on nuclear power was fixed.

The board found that market research company Opinion Leader Research breached a code of conduct because information was "inaccurately or misleadingly presented, or was imbalanced".

 

Take action

Stop Hinkley!

The french energy giant EdF is proposing to build a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset. It would be the largest in the country and the first to be built in over 20 years. 

A local campaign group, Stop Hinkley, claims that EdF has already destroyed many acres of open land and wildlife habitats - even before consents are approved for two giant reactors.

There are also health conerns with reports of a higher incidence of cancers round Hinkley Point where nuclear reactors have been situated for many years.

Stop Hinkley is asking people to: 

  • sign their petiton 
  • write to their MP 

To take action go to the Stop Hinkley website where you can also download petitions and leaflets.