QUESTIONS REVEAL DISTURBING DIARY OF NUCLEAR FIRES AND LEAKS

RISKS OF NUCLEAR UNDERLINE WISDOM OF RENEWABLES

Parliamentary Questions have revealed a disturbing catalogue of fires and coolant leaks at UK nuclear installations over the last eight years – raising serious public safety and environmental concerns.

Since 2001 there have been 82 fires and 83 coolant leaks recorded at nuclear installations - in the last six months alone there were six fires and three coolant leaks.

Last month a Channel 4 News investigation revealed that the Sizewell A nuclear power station came close to a serious nuclear disaster in June 2007 when, only by pure luck, a contractor noticed water leaking from the radioactive cooling pond that posed significant risk to operators and the public. Parliamentary Questions by the SNP now reveal that incident, which occurred just as the UK government was trying to soften up the public for the building of new reactors, was not isolated.

SNP Westminster Energy spokesperson Mike Weir MP said:

“One incident is troubling, but this catalogue of fires and leaks is extremely disturbing, and the obvious fear is what could have happened if any one of these incidents had not been detected in time.

“It paints a very unsettling picture about the state these installations are in, and how they are operating.

“These incidents are clearly inconvenient for UK Ministers who seem more interested in selling the idea of new generation of reactors than telling us about the dangers of the existing ones.

“The risks and uncertainties of nuclear power, in terms of waste disposal, decommissioning, security and health concerns, or cost, are far too great.

“This situation perfectly illustrates the safety problems of nuclear power and underlines the wisdom of the Scottish Government's energy strategy - based on our vast clean, green energy sources including renewables, clean coal and carbon capture.

"Without nuclear power, Scotland has the natural resources to generate clean, green power. Harnessing that potential can meet our future energy demands several times over, while tackling climate change and without the danger and uncertainty of nuclear.”

Brown 'stuck in Cold War rut' on Trident; MPs demand new debate

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has today condemned Gordon Brown's promotion and funding of a global explosion of nuclear power production as 'the slow poison route to global destruction', which will make nuclear weapons proliferation more - not less - likely. CND deplores the Prime Minister's failure to address any of the current concerns about Trident and its replacement, in spite of extensive public concern and rethinking from across the political spectrum. Today over 30 MPs have written to the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary demanding that parliament has further discussion on Trident replacement before a government decision to advance to the next stage.3 Currently the government plans to take this decision during the Parliamentary recess.

Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: "This is a time of unprecedented popular opposition to, and widespread political concern about, Britain's nuclear weapons. It is outrageous that the Prime Minister has chosen to ignore these concerns and stick unquestioningly to the Cold War white elephant Trident. Instead he is promoting and funding - with British taxpayers' money - a global explosion of nuclear power that amounts to the slow poison route to global destruction.

"There are repeated calls - from all parts of the political spectrum - for a new debate on Trident replacement, and there is a clear demand that Trident should be included in the forthcoming defence review. Instead the government plans to progress to the next stage of the replacement process during the parliamentary recess. Mr Brown, who is clearly stuck in a Cold War rut, is ignoring the advice of the Foreign Affairs Committee which has demanded just such a debate, along with many MPs drawn from all parties.

"We welcome the MPs' letter today, to the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary, calling for parliamentary scrutiny and debate before a government decision to progress to the next stage of Trident replacement. This issue is too important to be decided behind closed doors."

CND urges Brown to scrap Trident, opt for green energy

Prior to Gordon Brown's announcement on nuclear weapons and nuclear power expected later today, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament commented that any plan which ignores the fact that Britain is ploughing ahead and replacing its nuclear arsenal will not be seen as credible by non-nuclear states.

Today's speech, outlining plans ahead of the crucial Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference in May, is expected to focus on spreading nuclear power in a form that doesn't assist weapons production and on proposals to tighten inspection regimes.

Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said "For any British plan on controlling nuclear weapons to be taken seriously, it must take up Trident. We can't seriously expect non-nuclear nations to agree to the necessary toughening of international inspections if we ourselves aren't keeping our end of the bargain - disarmament. The NPT is based on the grand deal that others won't seek nuclear weapons if the original nuclear powers disarm. Britain can take the lead in all these areas by scrapping Trident replacement - and saving us £76bn."

"It is a nonsense for the Government to say there is no current nuclear threat to Britain and then commit to having a Cold War-stlye weapons system until the 2050s. Britain can't expect those without these weapons to make all the concessions - we have to take action to make progress. Unilateral leadership by the UK will promote multilateral reductions by all."

"Spreading nuclear power technology around the world may advance commercial interests that are profitable for some, but is not the answer to climate change and will increase proliferation risks. A real green energy revolution is needed over the coming decades - British manufacturing could be at the core of that, but exporting dirty, dangerous and expensive nuclear technology is not the way forward."

Nuclear power? No point, says new report

A new report from the Green Party makes a powerful case that nuclear power has no rationale in terms of either economics or helping the fight against dangerous climate change.

In Nuclear Power? No Point! the Green Party's spokesperson on trade and industry, Darren Johnson AM, reviews recent developments and argues that:

• Nuclear power provides less than 4% of UK energy - which is far less than could be saved by energy-efficiency measures that would cut people's fuel bills.
• New nuclear stations will not help the fight against climate change because major CO2 reductions are needed in the next ten years. New nuclear power stations could not be built fast enough.
• Massive investment in renewables could deliver the necessary short-term CO2 cuts - but "feeding cash to the nuclear delusion" could help starve the renewables industry of some of the investment and skilled personnel it needs to grow rapidly.
• The nuclear industry's current financial problems cast serious doubt on its ability to deliver new powerstations anyway.

Darren Johnson, who is currently chair of the London Assembly and Green Party candidate for Lewisham Deptford, said today:

"The industry that was going to produce electricity 'too cheap to meter' has landed us with massive costs for handling its dangerous waste. Now the nuclear industry can't even give us a reliable quote for the cost of a power station. The current projects in Finland and France are experiencing safety concerns, long delays and big overspends.

"There's no point expecting nuclear to solve the climate crisis, because new stations couldn't be built fast enough to help achieve the big CO2 reductions we need to make in the next ten years - which mature renewables could deliver.

"There is no point even considering nuclear power, because demand-reduction measures could easily save far more power than nuclear could generate. And the latest studies argue convincingly that green energy sources with a European smart grid could provide all the power we need."

Nuclear "offers nothing for the recession, and too few jobs per megawatt anyway"

In Nuclear Power? No Point! Mr Johnson also draws attention to nuclear power's poor jobs-per-megawatt ratio. He said today:
"We urgently need a Green New Deal to get us out of the recession and start building the sustainable economy of the twenty-first century. We could create hundreds of thousands of jobs in green energy in the next decade. Nuclear power can play no part in that because it takes far too long to build nuclear power stations compared with windfarms and other green measures. Wind energy sustains something like twelve times as many jobs per unit of power as nuclear does."