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Archived press release

Nuclear waste experts quell hopes of nuclear revival

26 January 2006

Proposals for new nuclear power stations should now be "killed off" said Friends of the Earth today (Thursday 26 January). The environment group was responding to the publication of the draft conclusions of a committee of Government experts which said its report, due this summer, will "not solve" the problem of storing waste.

The expert Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CORWM) has placed online a copy of its draft conclusions, which state: "If ministers accept our recommendations, the UK's nuclear waste problem is not solved. Having a strategy is a start. The real challenge follows," [1].

Friends of the Earth's nuclear campaigner Roger Higman said:

"Any politicians who think the problem of nuclear waste is going to go away are clearly mistaken. The experts charged with looking at the problem have made it clear that any solution is a long way off. Building new reactors will massively increase the amount of high-level nuclear waste being stored in this country - creating an environmental hazard that will last for tens of thousands of years. This cannot be ignored. We should reject the nuclear option and invest instead in safe, secure alternatives such as energy efficiency and renewable power."

Notes

[1] DRAFT: Managing our radioactive waste safely: CoRWM's recommendations to Government following its review of options for long-term management of UK Wastes. Available from: www.corwm.org.uk/content-906

See para 64: "If ministers accept our recommendations, the UK's nuclear waste problem is not solved. Having a strategy is a start. The real challenge follows."

For further information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

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