News Archive – March 2005

New nukes roundup

A secret team within the Department of Trade and Industry is preparing the case for building up to 10 nuclear power stations after the general election.

Independent on Sunday, 27th March 2005 >>

British Energy is talking to leading City institutions about private funding for a nuclear power building programme.

The Business, 27th March 2005 >>
Scotland on Sunday, 27th March 2005 >>

And plans are afoot to find fiscal incentives that would make financing nuclear plants attractive to the private sector. This could see three markets created - one for nuclear, one for renewables and one for fossil fuels.

Scotland on Sunday, 27th March 2005 >>

 

Scottish Affairs Select Committee mis-reported

Despite what much of the media reported, the Scottish Affairs Select Committee report on power generation, specifically avoided proposing any new nuclear plants to replace Torness and Hunterston B. In fact, it said any new plant would be rejected by the Scottish Executive. The economics of nuclear power still don’t stack up. There is still nowhere to put the waste; the existing plants continue to contaminate the environment; there are major unresolved safety problems; and the nuclear industry represents a major security threat in the age of international terrorism. The truth is that nuclear power is a ruinously expensive way of generating energy. Left to the market, there would never again be another nuclear power station, because no private operator could cope with the cost of decommissioning.

Read more >>

Sunday Herald, 27th March 2005

Scottish Executive goes nuclear?

Ministers are preparing to abandon their opposition to new nuclear power stations in Scotland and allow the construction of the country’s first plant in nearly 20 years. There is strong support within Jack McConnell’s administration for a new generation of atomic facilities, despite resistance from their Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

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Sunday Times (Scotland), 27th March 2005

New Nukes

Britain's largest chemicals company believes a new fleet of nuclear power stations could be financed privately in the UK, and it would be prepared to invest if the government indicates support for them after the election. Ineos Chlor, which operates the Runcorn works once owned by ICI, believes new nuclear stations will be essential in future to offset the UK's reliance on gas imported from Russia and Central Asia. Chief executive Tom Crotty told The Observer he would support the construction of new plants and would be prepared to invest in a consortium, along with other energy intensive users and utilities.

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The Observer, 20th March 2005

Nuclear Delusion

The nuclear industry has grasped at climate change like a drowning man clutching a passing log. Its latest piece of flailing around involved persuading some journalists that the prime minister is just waiting for the general election to be over to put out a white paper setting out the case for 10 new nuclear reactors. This was as much news to No 10 as it was to the public. But no doubt it accurately reflects the aspirations of the diminishing band of nuclear advocates. The brutal truth is that no one has yet managed to work out a way of getting nuclear reactors to burn uranium as effectively as they burn money - though extraordinary creativity has gone into concealing this from public view.

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Tom Burke, The Guardian, 2nd March 2005