Home  Media Press Releases Nuclear Power Dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear plants must be stopped, says CND
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Dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear plants must be stopped, says CND |
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Monday, 09 November 2009 |
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament strongly
criticised the Government's imminent announcement of a 'national policy
statement' on nuclear power together with a list of potential sites. CND
described as "totally unacceptable" Ed Miliband's characterisation of the
safety record of the industry as being "relatively good", pointing to the
widespread consequences of any major accident. Campaigners
are greatly concerned that the new planning process will push through decisions
with little reference to local communities or design-specific safety concerns.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament, said, "Nuclear power is dirty, dangerous and expensive. It is not
the answer to climate change or concerns over energy security. Steamrollering
planning decisions through an unelected and unaccountable quango is no way for
a democracy to make such significant national decisions. Local concerns look
set to be marginalised, with the ability for local communities to question
important safety aspects of reactors swept away. It is totally unacceptable for
Ed Miliband to see a 'relatively good' safety record as sufficient - nuclear
disasters have the potential to make any other kind of industrial accident look
harmless in comparison, potentially affecting
millions of people."
"Nuclear build on the scale envisaged is a drop in the
ocean compared to the climate change measures needed. The Government's own
advisers say that even with a doubling of nuclear capacity carbon emissions
would only drop by 8% - that's compared with the 60% target set by Government.
[see note 3] As uranium fuel becomes scarcer more energy is put into extracting
it, so by 2050 nuclear is expected to generate as much CO2 per kilowatt as a
gas-fired power station. [see note 4] Investing in nuclear will divert skills
and resources away from areas that can have a much more significant impact on
cutting carbon emissions, such as large-scale renewable, distributed power
generation and carbon capture and storage technologies.
She continued "This decision is incredibly short sighted. In the 50 years Britain
has been experimenting with nuclear power successive governments have yet to
come up with a long-term strategy for coping with the waste that will remain
hazardous for millennia. To build-up our stockpile of material that we have no
safe way to store is madness, especially as any underground dump would take
decades to prepare."
"Embarking on the creation of a new generation of nuclear plants also sends the
wrong message internationally, where building a nuclear reactor is a necessary
step in the creation of a nuclear weapon. If we want any credibility in
discouraging the proliferation of nuclear weapons, we cannot discourage others
from building reactors whilst we construct many more of our own."
- For further information and interviews please contact Ben Soffa, CND's Press Officer, on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859
- The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe's
biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 35,000 members in the
UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org
- Sustainable Development Commission:
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/060306.html, an 8% cut would be
achieved by 2035, the 60% target is due to be met by 2050
- Oxford Research Group report:
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/briefing_papers/pdf/secureenergy.pdf
with Page 40 addressing the carbon impact of uranium extraction.
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