The Prime Minister must ditch her “baffling” decision to leave the EU’s nuclear agency as it risks derailing the UK’s push to ban petrol and diesel cars, one of Britain’s leading nuclear physicists has warned. Writing exclusively for The Independent, Professor Martin Freer said quitting Euratom will hit the UK’s nuclear-driven power supply, just as demand for electricity explodes due to a soaring number of battery-powered cars. The award-winning academic said pulling out of the agency is “short-sighted, counterproductive and dangerous” as he implored the Prime Minister to rethink the move in favour of a “sensible position”.
Independent 5th Aug 2017 read more »
Prof Martin Freer: The reason every single expert in the civil nuclear industry, the nuclear medicine industry and scientists alike are so baffled by the Government’s decision, is that it is completely unnecessary and has zero benefits.
Independent 5th Aug 2017 read more »
Freer argues that Theresa May’s determination that the UK should withdraw from Euratom, the European Union’s nuclear cooperation alliance, threatens the expansion of nuclear power in this country, which he believes is needed for the green transport revolution. Leaving Euratom may mean that we are unable to import the fuel to power our nuclear stations. Even if the negotiations go well and quickly, his assessment is withering: “The best-case scenario is that we spend an enormous amount of money, time and resources to create the same situation we have now.” The Prime Minister insists that the EU and Euratom are legally linked entities and that leaving the EU means we have to leave the nuclear club too. The Independent suspects that the connection is more to do with the European Court of Justice, which enforces Euratom rules as well as EU laws. However, we find it hard to believe that Eurosceptic hardliners, such as Mr Gove, really believe that the ECJ is a threat to national sovereignty in such a specialist area of cooperation as nuclear science. We hope that the Environment Secretary will listen to the unanimous view of Professor Freer and his colleagues in academia and the nuclear industry that Euratom membership is in the British national interest. We do not believe it is too late for Britain’s notification of intention to withdraw from Euratom to be rescinded. With goodwill on both sides the legal complications can be sorted out and the UK could remain in the body that has “operated quietly and effectively”, as Professor Freer says, since we joined in 1973. If Mr Gove resolves this contradiction in favour of science, the national interest and the environment, he would deserve our praise.
Independent 5th Aug 2017 read more »
