nuclear-news

Secrecy over UK’s freeloader nuclear industry

  Negotiations on new nuclear power plants ‘need more scrutiny’ BBC News, 7 February 2013 The cost of cleaning up the Sellafield nuclear waste site has reached £67.5bn, according to MPs Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood has called for a “pause” in negotiations over new nuclear power stations to allow parliamentary scrutiny of whether they were likely to result in a good deal. He urged the government to ensure that the construction of new nuclear power stations was not subsidised.

Mr Horwood likened the nuclear industry to a “freeloader”…..Leading a Commons debate on the subject, Mr Horwood said the use of subsidies for renewable energy was “justified”.

But he said of the nuclear industry: “Wouldn’t it be extraordinary if into this exciting young, diverse and competitive energy market we found that a 56-year-old freeloader, a tailgater left over from another era was trying to slip in unnoticed and pick up all the same kind of advantages and support?”

‘Lack of transparency’

Mr Horwood claimed negotiations on the “strike price” – or minimum price for nuclear generated power – are going on “behind closed doors, as we speak, before the relevant legislation has even passed through this House”…..

Joan Walley, the Labour chair of the Environment Select Committee, supported Mr Horwood’s plan.

She said there was a “complete lack of transparency” because of commercial confidentiality agreements with energy firms.

“Is new nuclear going ahead with or without public subsidy? I think the plain truth is we have no way of telling,” she told MPs….. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21374879

February 8, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | secrets,lies and civil liberties, UK