By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Green Party deputy leader Adrian Ramsay responded to the government's announcement that up to eight new reactor sites have been designated for development. Chris Huhne signalled that Britain will be “open for business”, and hopes to attract foreign nuclear investment, despite recent events at Fukushima and elsewhere.
Mr Ramsay said: “While the Conservatives and LibDems often talk about being 'the greenest government ever', the coalition partners show their real priorities with their policies. Reducing carbon emissions must be a top priority, but this fixation on nuclear will divert investment away from the real solution – energy efficiency measures and renewable energy.”
With the recent revelation that three of the four affected reactors at Fukushima experienced full meltdown, and plants in America being put on alert or shut down as a result of flooding alongside the Missouri River, the risks involved with nuclear power are being illustrated all too clearly. And the public is taking notice; Italian voters have overwhelmingly rejected Silvio Berlusconi's plans to restart the country's nuclear programme, and Germany has committed to closing all of its plants by 2022.
Mr Ramsay concluded: “There are good reasons why countries across Europe are turning away from nuclear power and yet the British government is taking us in the opposite direction. Nuclear power creates a toxic legacy of waste and is bad value for money. Investing the same amount in energy efficiency and renewable energy would make much more difference more quickly in reducing carbon emissions, making our energy supply more secure and creating skilled, lasting jobs.”
Many countries in Europe and around the world are reconsidering nuclear power and some are standing now against it. Britain, on the other hand, just does not seem to get it while other countries do. Nuclear power is (1) way too expensive and (2) way too dangerous. Britain – nor any other country – cannot afford nuclear and that not just for costs.
In the 1950s and 1960s in Britain nuclear power was promoted with the “too cheap to meter” when the government adverts claimed that electricity would become so cheap that no one would bother metering it anymore. The fact is that this never happened and nuclear electricity is, in fact, the most expensive one.
Nuclear power has cost us already dearly, in the UK and in other places. I do not think that anyone will forget Chernobyl and Fukushima is now being added to the same list. Other incidents that were about as bad or a little down the line could also be listed but I don't think I have to.
Atomic power is not the answer and – unless we can get fusion to work – never will be. Wind, water, methane and solar are the only answer for our energy future.
© 2011
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