CPRE [1] condemned the consultation on the future of nuclear power published alongside the Government’s Energy White Paper [2] today (Wednesday), as an empty gesture.  CPRE said that asking whether the UK needs new nuclear plants is ‘out of sync’ with the need for immediate action to reduce energy demand and climate change effects, and places too much faith in nuclear power. 

The consultation on new nuclear power plants is being repeated because a High Court judgement last year ruled that the previous consultation [3] had been ‘misleading’ and ‘seriously flawed’.

But after the High Court judgement, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Alistair Darling, said: ‘We continue to believe, subject of course to consultation, there is a case for having new nuclear power stations…’. [4] He was backed by Tony Blair who commented that repeating the consultation process ‘won’t affect the policy at all’.

CPRE planning campaigner Amanda Brace said:

‘We do not believe that the case for new nuclear power plants has been made, or that nuclear power is the “climate change panacea” it is sometimes portrayed as.  Timing is critical. The draft Climate Change Bill warns that even a 5-year delay in action could make a real difference in world temperature increases above present levels. Even if planning is speeded up, any new nuclear power station wouldn’t come on-line until around 2017.’ [5]

The Government agrees that new nuclear build is only likely to have a relatively small impact on UK emissions by 2020, with each plant likely to deliver only a 0.5% reduction in carbon emissions by that date. [6]  With the Bill committing the Government to setting a carbon reduction budget from 2008, CPRE supports the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’s call for a 3% reduction in CO2 emissions every year starting in 2008. [7]  Reducing energy demand now in every sector, including in the road and air transport sectors, is the only way forward. 

 Amanda Brace continued:

‘The Government’s proposals risk igniting public opposition to new nuclear power stations and other large energy projects. And they may be open to challenge on human rights grounds. Proposals included in the Energy White Paper do nothing to allay people’s anxiety about nuclear power plants and other large projects.  Nor will they help us tackle energy demand as the starting point for ensuring energy security and stabilising climate change [8].’

 – END –

NOTES FOR EDITORS
 
1. CPRE, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, is a charity which promotes the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England. We advocate positive solutions for the long-term future of the countryside. Founded in 1926, we have 60,000 supporters and a branch in every county. President: Sir Max Hastings. Patron: Her Majesty The Queen.

 2. The Energy White Paper published today (Wednesday 23 May) includes a consultation on new nuclear build and proposals to change the rules for public inquiries with regard to energy infrastructure projects. These proposals are related to the Planning White Paper issued on Monday and part of a broader Government initiative to reform the planning system with respect to major infrastructure projects (MIPs) in order to speed up decisions on MIPs and tackle what it calls ‘barriers to developers of energy infrastructure’. The Energy White Paper is available on the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/whitepaper/page39534.html 

3. The Energy Challenge: Energy Review Report 2006 was published by DTI on 14 July 2006. Annex A of the report was A Consultation on the Proposed Policy Framework for New Nuclear Build.

4. Parliamentary Statement by Alistair Darling, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, 22 February 2007.

5 Government Response to the Committee’s Sixth Report of Session 2005-06: Keeping the Lights on: Nuclear Renewables and Climate Change, 2007. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmenvaud/196/196.pdf

6. With a possible 10 new nuclear power stations proposed the contribution to power supply once they are all on-line would only be around 5%.

7. CPRE is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.

8. As part of its campaign on the Planning White Paper and in response to the Energy White Paper CPRE will argue that public inquiries need to explore the full range of issues relating to any proposal for a new nuclear plant and for a Strategic Environmental Assessment of the site assessment programme with public involvement at the site assessment stage. Details of the CPRE Planning White Paper campaign can be found on the CPRE website at http://www.cpre.org.uk/campaigns/planning and of the Planning Disaster campaign at http://www.planningdisaster.co.uk/