12 July
2006 - London, United Kingdom — UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair has so far only managed nice words
on global warming while ignoring effective action
on real solutions. Now he has chosen the dangerous,
expensive false solution of nuclear power. This
seals his true legacy - huge amounts of nuclear
waste that will last for millions of years.
Back in 2003 the UK government
rejected nuclear power in an energy review, correctly
stating that the massive investments required
to build new nuclear power plants would mean no
money to invest in renewables and energy efficiency.
But the powerful, well-connected
nuclear industry wasn't going to take that lying
down. They threw huge amounts of money into a
PR campaign claiming that nuclear energy was going
to save the world from climate change and provide
energy security. And right on cue, Tony Blair
started talking like a nuclear energy lobbyist.
Rubber stamp nuclear review
Blair started to make public
speeches in favour of more nuclear power and announced
another government energy review only two years
after the last one. Not surprisingly the latest
energy review was stacked in favour of proving
Blair is right about the need for more nuclear
power and it did just that.
But Blair's obsession with nuclear
power wasn't only a pre-emptive strike on the
energy review process; it has also undermined
the review's own commitments to renewables and
efficiency.
"Tony Blair is fixated
with getting new nuclear power stations built,"
said Stephen Tindale, Greenpeace UK executive
director, "and that means anything substantial
in this review that supports clean green energy
will be fatally undermined as long as Blair remains
Prime Minister. You can't roll out new nuclear
power stations and build widespread sustainable
energy projects. The reality is that nuclear sucks
up all the money. There is an enormous radioactive
cloud hanging over this energy review which threatens
to drown any positive moves on decentralised energy,
renewables and energy efficiency."
Nuclear is a climate
red herring
Blair claims that the UK needs
nuclear power. He claims it will help to cut UK
carbon emissions and ensure energy security. But
building 10 new nuclear reactors would only deliver
a four percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2024: far
too little, too late to combat climate change.
And nuclear power's overall contribution to total
UK energy demand is so tiny (only 3.6 percent)
that it can only marginally affect energy security.
This UK government policy puts
it at odds with other European nations who have
ditched nuclear power. In May 2006 Spain joined
Sweden, Germany, Italy and Belgium as the fifth
European country to abandon nuclear power. Maybe
Tony Blair should listen more to these countries
and less to the nuclear industry lobby?
The only reactor under construction
in western Europe, in Finland, is already 12 months
behind schedule after just one year of building,
with significant cost over-runs and serious quality
control problems.
Making a million year
nuclear mess
Building new nuclear plants
ignores the fact that there is no solution what
to do with waste current ones are producing. Every
child knows you should clean up your current mess
before making a new one. Tony Blair is not the
only one conveniently forgetting this lesson.
The US is talking to Russia about a deal to allow
it to dump nuclear waste from US reactors in Russia.
Generating nuclear waste is
bad enough, shipping it half way around the world
to Russia that has a terrible record on nuclear
safety is clearly a desperate attempt to put the
waste 'out of sight, out of mind'. Unless of course
you are unlucky enough to live near a transport
route or nuclear waste dump.
The challenge of global
warming demands real leadership; those who chose
the expensive, dangerous distraction represented
by nuclear power will not be remembered kindly
by future generations dealing with dangerous climate
change and our nuclear waste.
