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Royal society lays egg on nukes
14 June 1999
Friends of the Earth (FOE) today dismissed as absurd the Royal Society's plea for the Government to support new nuclear power stations to fight dangerous climate change. The call for Government support for the declining nuclear power industry is contained in a report published today by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering -“Nuclear Energy: the Future Climate”.
The report recognises the serious threat of dangerous climate change and calls on the Government and the private sector to step up support and investment for renewable energy and energy efficiency. But it then loses the plot badly, in its support for nuclear power. The report suggests that it is “essential to win back public confidence” for nuclear power and argues that a carbon tax could redress the disastrously unfavourable economics of the nuclear industry. But FOE argues that a massive carbon tax would be needed to make new nuclear power stations anything like cost-effective.
In 1998, FOE published detailed economic analysis to show how the Government could achieve its manifesto commitment of a 20% cut in CO2 emissions by 2010, through a programme of renewable energy, energy efficiency, co-generation and traffic reduction.The programme would create some 230,000 net new jobs and phase out the UK's Magnox reactors. By 2050, the UK could make an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions and close all existing reactors. New nuclear capacity is not needed.
Dr Patrick Green, Senior Energy, Nuclear and Climate Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:
“This report's support for new nuclear power stations is frankly barking. Nuclear power had its chance and failed. No amount of special pleading can now make a workable economic or environmental case for new nuclear power stations. More radioactive waste is not the answer to climate change.”
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
