UK think tank opposes G8 draft plans to fight global warming with nuclear energy
LONDON (AFX) - June 29
A British think tank has opposed what it says is a draft plans by the G8 industrial nations to expand the use of nuclear energy as a way to fight global warming.
The foundation said early drafts of communiques intended for the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland on July 6-8 suggest a new international push to expand nuclear power.
Andrew Simms, author of the report, "Mirage and Oasis, "said his foundation obtained the latest draft last week, without saying exactly how it was obtained.
Simms told Agence France-Presse that nuclear power will be too costly and too slow to develop in time to deal with the urgency of reducing the carbon emissions that cause global warming.
Simms, who is also the foundation's policy director, said the supply of uranium needed to fuel nuclear plants is too limited and will be exhausted in 85 years, based on current industry estimates of availability and the existing rate of use.
In addition, increased use of nuclear power would present greater risks to the problem of nuclear weapons proliferation and greater exposure to possible attacks by terrorists, the report warned.
Instead, the report said, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal power could, in theory, each individually meet all of the world's energy needs, without warming the world's climate.
It leaves no toxic legacy and is abundant and cheap to harvest both in the UK and around the world, the reports says.
In a statement on the foundation website, Simms said: "Without sustainable, reliable supplies of energy, the world faces a future in which climate change and fuel shortages will combine with catastrophic results.
"The poorest and most vulnerable will suffer the worst. But a resurgence of interest in nuclear power, justified by voodoo economics, stands to hinder and potentially derail renewable energy.
A spokesman in Prime Minister Tony Blair's office neither confirmed nor denied that nuclear power is being considered as a solution to global warming at the G8.
"We can't say for sure until the final communique is out," he said.
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