Posted by bex — 30 August 2002 at 8:00am
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BNFL shipment: Pacific Pintail
Japan's largest nuclear utility has announced that a safety cover-up at its nuclear power plants has been going on for decades - a devastating blow to an already embattled nuclear industry, with global implications.
British Nuclear Fuel's (BNFL) controversial plutonium fuel programme (MOX) suffered another blow when Japan's largest nuclear utility announced last night (29/8/02) that there has been a major safety scandal at its nuclear power plants. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the world's third largest nuclear power operator is a key potential customer of BNFL's MOX fuel manufactured at its plant at Sellafield, Cumbria.
Greenpeace last night attached a large compressed air banner to the harbour wall outside the military port of Barrow-in-Furness and this morning inflated the remote-controlled device.
Commenting on the Environment Agency's Proposals (1) for Future Sellafield Regulation, Greenpeace today described them as grossly inadequate. Greenpeace campaigner, Pete Roche, said, "Despite all the talk of significant reductions in discharge limits, the actual radioactivity going into the Irish Sea and our atmosphere is likely to double over the next few years".
Greenpeace said today that the closure of British Energy's nuclear plant at Torness because of a fault in its reactor cooling system was further evidence that nuclear power is not only dangerous but is a technology that can't be relied on to deliver the UK's electricity.
Summary In May 2002, the government began a consultation process to decide how the UK's future energy needs could be met.
The nuclear industry are keen to build at least ten more nuclear power stations. And despite the apparent openness of the consultation process, government and nuclear industry lobbyists are already setting weak targets for renewable energy and undermining democracy.
Summary Britain stands at a crossroads in energy policy. One direction leads to more nuclear power stations. The other leads towards the sustainable exploitation of energy from the wind, waves and sun.