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 21 August 2008 21:54 BST

Nuclear power under fire

Wednesday, 10 Oct 2007 11:46
The government has launched a consultation into nuclear power

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Environmental campaigners have spoken out about more nuclear power stations being built in the UK on the 50th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident to occur in the west.

Half a century ago today the graphite core of the British nuclear reactor at Windscale, now called Sellafield, caught fire and released substantial amounts of radioactive contamination into the surrounding area.

Today is also the final day of the government-run public consultation into whether the private sector should be allowed to build new nuclear power stations.

The government has argued that nuclear power can play an important role in reducing the UK's carbon emissions and subsequently the effects of climate change.

But environmental groups and some politicians have expressed anger at the proposal, saying there are other energy sources which can meet the country's energy needs while being less dangerous.

Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said that nuclear power amounts to just four per cent of the UK's energy needs while producing highly dangerous radioactive waste that will remain a threat for generations to come.

"Nuclear power will never be a major or cheap solution to climate change as claimed by it supporters," he explained.

"It's time to invest instead in clean and safe alternatives that could underpin a genuinely sustainable energy future."

Scotland's energy minister Jim Mather said the billions which could be spent on nuclear technology should instead be invested in developing safer renewable power.

"We completely reject the development of dangerous, unnecessary and costly new nuclear power stations in Scotland," he said.

"We already have clean, green and reliable alternatives. Scotland has massive renewables potential, as well as significant opportunities for clean fossil-fuel technologies and carbon storage. Harnessing that potential can meet our future energy demands several times over, while tackling climate change.

"I believe that our position has the clear support of the majority of MSPs and public opinion. The UK government now needs to accept the weight of evidence and abandon its disastrously short-sighted and unwanted proposals."
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