On 4th July 2002 the Government published its White Paper Managing the Nuclear Legacy which contained plans for dealing with our worsening radioactive waste crisis that has accumulated over 50 years.
Greenpeace response to Downing Street Energy Review
Greenpeace energy campaigner Matthew Spencer said, "Labour looks ready to rekindle is its love affair with nuclear power. This report has the fingerprints of the pro-nuclear energy minister Brian Wilson all over it. The nuclear industry would close down in the UK without new support from the Government - this report leaves the door open for new tax-breaks and rubber-stamping of planning applications for new power stations."
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.
"This Review had three tasks: to consider the implications for energy policy of the RCEP's view that the UK would have to make a substantial cuts in CO2 emissions by the middle of the century if it were to join a world-wide coalition to stabilise CO2 concentration in the atmosphere; to review energy security; and to consider whether the different objectives which energy systems meet can be better integrated, given that the recent past has seen some conflicts, for instance between environmental and social objectives."
Posted by bex — 17 September 2001 at 8:00am
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The UK press has been full of speculation for over a year that the Government is ready to launch a new nuclear power programme. Over the first few months of 2005 many articles speculated that as soon as the General Election was out of the way in May, the Government would support the construction of new nuclear power stations.
Greenpeace today called for the Government to phase out nuclear power stations in the UK and massively increase its targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency. In a report to the Government's energy review, Greenpeace calls for:
A 50% reduction in final energy use within the next fifty years
A national aim to meet half of the UK's electricity needs from renewable energy within twenty years
Greenpeace welcomes the fact that the Government is reviewing energy policy. Current energy trends are unsustainable: greenhouse gas emissions and radioactive waste are leaving enormous burdens for future generations to deal with. The fifty year time-scale identified by the Government makes possible a visionary and bold approach which no previous energy review in the UK has achieved.