ok reading news reports and stuff on net is it that a new generation of British nuclear power stations got the go-ahead from the British Labour Government last week, while in Ireland reaction from the Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition was muted.
It fell to Sinn Féin to make the case as to why this policy reversal should be actively opposed by the Irish Government using every avenue open to it to halt new nuclear facilities being built.
British Energy Secretary John Hutton made the case in the House of Commons as to why ‘New Labour’ is giving the approval for building new nuclear power stations. Hutton said that there are two objectives in British energy policy: one is to secure energy supplies and the second is to tackle climate change.
also Greenpeace last year won a High Court judgement against the British that the consultation process in the 2007 Energy Review was “flawed and seriously misleading”. Despite this, Hutton still felt able to tell MPs: “We concluded a full and extensive consultation process.”
Hutton claimed: “It is in the public interest to allow energy companies the option of investing in new nuclear power stations.” Nuclear power is “safe and secure” as well as “tried and tested” and is “one of the very few proven low-carbon technologies”.
Incredible claims
One of the most incredible claims made by Hutton is that “nuclear power will reduce the costs of meeting our energy goals”. He didn’t mention the fact that the British taxpayer already faces a bill of at least £70 billion to meet the cost of decommissioning Britain’s ageing nuclear power plants.
On top of that is a £20 billion bill for storing nuclear waste in Britain, most of which is stored in the Sellafield facility where, time and time again, failures in management and even basic storage procedures of this most hazardous waste have been exposed.
Then there is the £3.5 billion bail-out of struggling nuclear power provider British Energy or the long-term loss-making, state-owned British Nuclear Fuels.
Not mentioned in Hutton’s speech was the New Labour 1997 election manifesto commitment that said: “We see no economic case for the building of any new nuclear power stations.”
Also in the U-turn mode was Conservative Party leader David Cameron, who in 2006 said, “Nuclear power should be a last resort,” but now, in 2008, stands over Conservative Party Energy spokesperson Alan Duncan’s cry in the debate that, “We’re up for it!”
