Greens slam Brown's nuclear bung-and-bribe strategy
Published: 13 Jun 2008
South West Greens have today joined Caroline Lucas MEP in attacking Government plans, published on Thursday, to create a system of subsidies for new nuclear stations and bribes to induce communities to accept radioactive waste.
The plan will see the government accept the indefinite responsibility for nuclear waste in exchange for a one-off fixed fee from the nuclear operator - a blank-cheque subsidy designed to encourage private investment in an otherwise economically unviable technology. Ministers will also offer bribe packages of extra health services and infrastructure to cajole communities into accepting nuclear waste dumps.
Cllr Ricky Knight, South West Green Party lead candidate for the European Election 2009, said:
'Brown's bung-and-bribe strategy shows that he knows just how unworkable his nuclear plans really are. But instead of supporting sustainable, job-creating renewables, he's handing out huge sums to whoever it takes to get his pet project through.
'The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estimates the cost at £72 billion over 20 years - up from an estimated £56 billion only two years ago. The plants themselves will cost up to £2 billion and take 15 years to build. As with all things, we, the taxpayers, will foot the bill for the construction and the decommissioning - and if anything goes wrong, we'll pick up the tab for that as well.
'I'm sorry, Prime Minister, but we don't have 15 years left to avoid the worst scenarios of climate change - only a massive programme of renewables combined with insulation, cutting energy use in domestic, commercial and transport has any realistic prospect.'
South West Green Party European Election list candidate David Taylor, also a spokesperson for Stop Hinkley, added:
'The nuclear power stations at Hinkley Point have already been implicated in causing higher rates of cancer deaths and leukaemia, as well as radioactive pollution making the Bristol Channel the most tritium-contaminated sea in the world.
'It is appalling that the government are implementing these proposals. This fiction of safe, cheap energy is nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the ticking time-bomb that is nuclear power.
'I truly hope no local authorities are tempted by this inducement. The consequences for the local area would be dire indeed, as there is still no safe way of containing this waste over the tens of thousands of years that it will remain radioactive, despite years of research. The dangers of a poisoned land – to the health of the public, to farm animals and wildlife – are profound.
'The Severn Estuary has immense natural power which, if correctly and sensitively harnessed, would provide a renewable and truly sustainable energy source for the future.'