nuclear-news

Starmer pledges to ‘build, baby, build’ as green groups criticise nuclear plans

Greenpeace says PM has ‘swallowed industry spin whole’ after plans unveiled to expand in England and Wales

Peter Walker and Matthew Taylor, Guardian 6th Feb 2025

Keir Starmer has channelled his inner Donald Trump and promised to “build, baby, build” in his push for more nuclear power stations, despite warnings from environmental groups about the industry’s record for soaring costs and long delays.

A day after the prime minister unveiled his plans to revamp planning rules to bring in a series of small modular reactors (SMRs) across England and Wales, Greenpeace said Starmer had “swallowed the nuclear industry spin whole”, and Friends of the Earth described the plans as “overblown, costly hype”.

Formally announcing the plans on Thursday, however, Starmer insisted the recent glacial pace of nuclear power development was precisely why things had to change.

Asked if, much like Trump’s pro-fossil fuels mantra of “drill, baby, drill”, he now advocated “build, baby, build”, Starmer replied: “I say: build, baby, build. I say: we’re going to take on the blockers so that we can build.”………………………………………………………………………………………………..

However ambitious, the project faces obstacles, including likely local opposition, despite hints from Starmer that people could get lower bills if they lived near a new reactor. The technology also remains untested, there is not a single commercial SMR operating in the world, and the sector is heavily reliant on government support.

Dale Vince, a green electricity entrepreneur and a major donor to Labour under Starmer, said even large nuclear power stations made “the most expensive power known to mankind”, adding: “And the widely understood and experienced concept of economies of scale is all about things getting cheaper as they get bigger. The opposite is true in the other direction – miniaturisation always costs more.”

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s policy director, said Starmer’s plan was unrealistic. “The Labour government has swallowed nuclear industry spin whole, seemingly without applying so much as a pinch of critical scrutiny or asking for a sprinkling of evidence,” he said.

“They present as fact things which are merely optimistic conjecture on small nuclear reactor cost, speed of delivery and safety, which is courageous – or stupid – given that not a single one has been built, and with the nuclear industry’s record of being over time and over budget unmatched by any other sector.”

Mike Childs, the head of policy for Friends of the Earth, said nuclear power was “extremely expensive and creates a legacy of radioactive waste that lasts for thousands of years”.

“The Hinkley C nuclear plant in Somerset, which is a decade late and almost £30bn over budget, makes HS2 look like a runaway success,” he said. “If ministers want to build a clean, affordable and energy-secure future they should focus on renewables, such as wind and solar, and better energy storage – not the overblown, costly hype offered by the nuclear industry.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/06/starmer-pledges-to-build-baby-build-as-green-groups-criticise-nuclear-plans

February 8, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK