PM’s nuclear call condemnedWednesday 17 May 2006Prime Minister Tony Blair’s view that nuclear power is ‘back on the agenda with a vengeance”, announced last night at a CBI address, has been savaged by environmental commentators who called the move “recklessly incompetent”. "If we don't take these long-term decisions now, we will be committing a serious dereliction of our duty to the future of this country," said the PM, at the annual meeting of business leaders. Earlier Government comments appearing to support a new nuclear programme had been played down as the Energy Review considered a wide range of solutions. Various green groups and independent analysts submitted studies to the Review that showed a more comprehensive support of renewables could fulfil the energy deficit while contributing to emissions reduction, while a number of influential reports emerged that called the value of nuclear into question on environment, economic and safety issues. However, the PM’s latest comments have again brought nuclear to the forefront of the issue – to the dismay of environmentalists. “Wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on a ridiculously dangerous and antiquated form of energy is certainly back on the agenda,” commented Stephen Tindale, Greenpeace’s Executive Director. “Nuclear power presents a real terrorist threat, costs a stupid amount of money, doesn’t help in the fight against climate change and certainly won’t plug the energy gap. To put this hazard back on the agenda is recklessly incompetent.” “Nuclear power is dirty, dangerous and expensive – and doesn’t provide a solution to either climate change or the end of oil,” said Green MEP Dr. Caroline Lucas. “It produces a deadly legacy of nuclear waste which we still don’t know how to deal with – and creates a devastating target for terrorists.” NGO Friends of the Earth questioned the credibility of the Energy Review, raising the possibility that a nuclear solution had always been on the agenda regardless of the consultation’s findings. "Increasingly it looks like the energy consultation has been a complete sham,” said FoE’s Tony Juniper. “It's clear that Tony Blair is fixated with nuclear power and is determined to oversee a new generation of nuclear reactors rather than investing in clean and sustainable options that already exist. It's probably no coincidence that a number of nuclear sceptics were removed from key cabinet posts earlier this month.” |