Cabinet office review throws lifeline to nuclear industry
Greenpeace today publishes a leaked summary of Tony Blair's Energy Review, revealing how a Downing Street think tank is leaving the door open for a wave of dangerous new nuclear power stations across Britain. The Prime Minister was due to release the report by today at the latest, but publication has been delayed.
Read the leaked draft summary of the Energy Review.
Contrary to earlier speculation, Greenpeace can reveal that the review does not rule out the construction of new nuclear power stations. Around a dozen new nuclear plants could now be built with government assistance, in the form of tax breaks and relaxed planning laws. The nuclear industry has said that new plants will be built alongside existing sites.
Loss making nuclear operators have been lobbying the government for financial support to build the new nuclear power plants. Now, under the heading 'Nuclear power - keeping the option open' the Energy Review states: "The decision whether to bring forward proposals for a new nuclear build will lie within the commercial sector But, given that the Government sets the framework within which commercial choices are made, it could, as with renewables, make it more likely that a private sector scheme would succeed."
The confidential report, written by the Performance and Innovation Unit of the Cabinet Office (PIU) and presented to Blair before Christmas, also sets timid targets for the generation of energy by renewable technology like wind, wave and solar power.
The report sets a target of generating just 20% of the UK's energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020, despite Britain being one of the most resource-rich regions in the world for wind and wave power.
Greenpeace Executive Director Stephen Tindale said today: "This report on Britain's energy future is a catalogue of missed opportunities. It leaves the door open for a new wave of dangerous nuclear power stations, which will affect our health, endanger our security and pollute the environment for generations to come.
"Its timid targets for renewable energy miss the chance to take advantage of Britain's huge potential for wind and wave power. The Government can't have its cake and eat it - it can prop up the nuclear industry or it can develop world leading renewable energy."
Publication of the Energy Review was scheduled for January this year. The findings will come as no surprise to those who noted that the Labour Party dropped it's opposition to new nuclear power plants in its last election manifesto, and that pro-nuclear MP Brian Wilson was appointed to oversee the Energy Review.
The 1997 Labour manifesto stated: "We see no economic case for the building of any new nuclear power stations." By failing to close the door on further construction, acceptance of the report will complete a major policy U-turn.
Greenpeace's own submission to the review called for greater efficiency, reducing energy use by half within the next fifty years. The submission also called for a national plan to meet 50% of the UK's electricity needs from renewable energy within twenty years.
Greenpeace also warned that in the last ten years alone subsidies from UK consumers to nuclear power have amounted to at least £.3 billion and that tax exemptions for the nuclear industry could raise the level of National Insurance paid by all employers.
Notes to editors:
The PIU had previously been looking at 20% and 30% targets for renewables and has opted for the less ambitious target. The government's Energy Technology Support Unit has shown that the UK has three times the renewable energy potential than the figure recommended by the PIU.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
