Nuclear Power: Argument for Nukes is 'Grossly Misleading'
Tue., November 29, 2005. 11:05.
Renewables and energy efficiency the key to secure, safe, clean and affordable energy future for Scotland
Following Blair's announcement of a new review of energy needs, to rewrite the government’s energy review of two years ago which found that nuclear power is”an unattractive option”, Scottish Greens have highlighted the 'gaping holes' and 'obvious distortions' in pro-nuclear propaganda. They warned against misrepresentation, such as the grossly misleading claim made by Labour MP John Robertson that 'even the leaders of Friends of the Earth' were convinced that nuclear power was a good idea.
Greens highlighted the costs and dangers of the nuclear option as:
- uneconomic - cost of dealing with existing waste currently £56 billion, likely to rise again in near future
- build up of radioactive waste, active for up to 250,000 years
- terrorist attack on nuclear reactors and waste storage facilities
- theft of weapons-useable plutonium
- risk of nuclear accident
- radioactive pollution from reprocessing nuclear waste at Sellafield
- risks of nuclear waste transport accident (rail, sea)
- the diversion of resources away from renewable energy
- the reliance on uranium imports from foreign countries, some of which are highly unstable
- the scarcity of high grade uranium
Chris Ballance MSP, Green speaker on nuclear issues, said:
"The great nuclear PR lobby is in full swing, but don't be deceived. The arguments for nuclear power still don't stand up to scrutiny, and rely on the use of grossly misleading distortions to cover up the gaping holes in the argument. The nuclear option is the worst option to tackle the threat of climate change. More nuclear power is a backward step.
"It is a fact that nuclear power does create more carbon pollution due to the energy needed in fuel sourcing, transport, processing, construction and disposal. On the grounds of cost, nuclear power is a financial quagmire which will hold back proper investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency - and it will bleed the taxpayer again as it has done for decades.
"It is also an insecure and dangerous game to be playing. Can anyone tell me what energy policy Osama Bin Laden would want the UK to adopt? It seems odd that the Prime Minister who wanted to lock people up for 90 days to fight terrorism is also prepared to create new targets, and to set a dirty example for the rest of the world to aspire to."
Shiona Baird MSP, Green Co-convener and Enterprise speaker, said:
"The big challenge is to greatly reduce our dependency on fossil fuels - and the key to that is energy efficiency and renewable sources of power. There are many and various forms of renewable energy which are available now to help Scotland meet its international obligations - as well as using fossil fuels more sparingly and efficiently, and more than just windpower. These include biomass, marine power and hydro which can all provide baseload in the future. The prospects for solar and geothermal for heat, and hydrogen for fuel are high indeed - as is the potential for much more locally based domestic small scale renewable energy devices. A nuclear free and low carbon approach is possible and we can create thousands of jobs doing it too."
Ballance concluded: "Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace speech in 1953 offered a glimpse into a brave new world of shining reactors, wise men in white coats who would supply us with endless clean electricity. It would be too cheap to meter! Power for free! Too cheap to meter became too expensive to operate. Instead of clean power, we're faced with the prospect of contamination and toxic wastes.
"Despite the earnest 'new' promises and optimistic claims of nuclear propagandists, deadly nuclear waste remains dangerous and in need of safekeeping for up to 250,000 years. This is not sustainable by any stretch of the imagination. We have an obligation to future generations."
Notes
1. Tony Blair is announcing a new Energy Review for the UK today. Green MSP Mark Ruskell has been pressing for the Scottish Parliament to undertake an energy policy inquiry. It will be carried out by the Environment Committee early next year.
2. Background briefing on the nuclear argument
Why nuclear is not a solution to climate change
The clamour for nuclear power has very little to do with addressing climate change. The contribution of nuclear power, even if it was carbon-free - which it isn't - will do little to address the problem. When a nuclear power station is generating electricity, its carbon emissions are virtually zero. But the construction of power stations, the mining of uranium ore, the milling, the enriching, the fabrication, the decommissioning etc - these are all very carbon intensive processes. A study of the life cycle of nuclear power has determined that it produces around 30% of the CO2 produced by a gas fired power station. When the quality of the ore drops, as it inevitably will, there reaches a point where nuclear power is as carbon intensive as the fossil fuel power stations it is meant to replace.
The costs don't wash
Nuclear power is much more expensive than almost any other mature technology. Even when the government kindly agrees to look after all those bothersome things like decommissioning and liability costs £56 billion on waste for the next 50 years it still doesn't make economic sense. No matter how much the nukeheads try to cook the books, the investors won't be in any kind of hurry to put their money into it. As one wag put it, 'they haven't yet designed a reactor that will burn uranium as efficiently as it burns money.' No private insurance group is willing to underwrite the cost of public liability for nuclear because of the danger and potential cost of accidents.
The real solutions
Electricity production accounts for less than a third of our carbon pollution problem, and so nuclear as a fraction of that again is not the BIG SOLUTION to climate change. Nuclear produces only 8% of UK’s total energy (40% of electricity). The solutions are many and varied and reach into areas such as transport, planning, housing, agriculture and land use policy and spending - as well as in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
On renewables, the Scottish Executive has presided over Scots leading the development of wave power, yet it is rapidly being commercialised in, and jobs exported to, Portugal. Meanwhile we sit back on pilot schemes and offer small amounts of cash in comparison to the billions forked out for nuclear power over the years past and the hundreds, if not thousands of years to come. Tidal power and offshore wind, proven technologies, are not being seriously supported by government.
A test for political parties
The test of a sustainable society will be its appetite for renewable and clean energy - not for another toxic, unsafe and costly unsustainable so-called solution to another existing problem. The test for politicians, particularly the Scottish Libdems, will be whether they will resist the atomic menace for all the above reasons and not just until a hole in the ground is found to dump the waste. SNP and Libdem politicians in South West Scotland and around Dounreay, are already going pro-nuclear for fear of losing local votes. They should be standing up for clean jobs and creating industries of the future - not clinging to outmoded dirty technology of the past. New Labour’s obsession with failed Thatcherite policies is looking increasingly stale and out of date.
Contact the Scottish Greens' press team on 07909 933 074.