No end to nuclear power plans despite closure of Sellafield24 August 2011
The closure of Sellafield (MOX) nuclear plant won't affect the development of nuclear power plants in the UK.
The Government has announced that plans for new reactors will still go ahead.
This is despite a worldwide rethink on nuclear power - which follows the Fukushima incident in Japan, where much of the nuclear industry has been closed down.
Leaking money
The Cumbrian nuclear energy site has cost the taxpayer £1.4bn since it was commissioned in the early 1990s.
The money could have been spent developing the UK's vast renewable energy potential and creating 400,000 new green jobs.
Yet again the taxpayers are footing the bill for the Alice-in-Wonderland economics of the nuclear industry.
Craig Bennett, Friends of the Earth Campaigns Director
In 2001, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace took the MOX plant to court after revelations it would lose hundreds of millions of pounds.
The green groups argued that the plant wouldn't make economic or environmental sense, which now seems to be the case.
The Government-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has informed 600 employees that they could lose their jobs
Secure our energy sector
We could save £12bn a year and reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2020 if the Government:
- Embraces a green economy
- Meets renewable targets
- Reduces coal, gas and oil imports
Read a summary of Friends of the Earth's solutions for a green economy.
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