'New nuclear' energy: the great green rip-off
The government has told us that we need more nuclear power stations to combat climate change. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Nuclear power is incredibly expensive and incredibly dangerous. The New Economics Foundation estimates that to pay for building new reactors and processing their waste, nuclear power providers could increase our electricity bills by almost three times the industry estimate. So that's a hike from £45 a quarter to around £100.
Opting for ten new nuclear power plants is a quick fix solution that will leave us with a terrible legacy of cancer-causing radioactive waste that nobody knows what to do with.
If nuclear power is allowed to get a grip on the energy sector now it could kill off any hope of a viable, affordable market in truly renewable forms of energy.
Reports by Greenpeace, the New Economics Foundation, the Sustainable Development Commission, the Centre for Alternative Technology and many other respected organisations have outlined strategies for future energy provision that does not include nuclear power.
WE HAVE TO STOP THIS NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
We want a future, not a disaster.
Nancy Birch
shared this idea
384 comments
-
Jude
commented
I heard someone today say how safe our nuclear power stations are, and that the next generation of them will be even safer! Also that our new power stations will be stronger and backup emergency power supplies will be superior.They all live in cloud cuckoo land...
Oh yes, and they also said that we (in Britain) aren't expecting any earthquakes or tsunamis.
Can anyone guarantee that? -
oRNELLA sAIBENE
commented
Have a look at this Joe U235 or anyone else who is sceptical about renewable energy, why pay fuel bills to a multinational company that is going to poison your backyard for generations, when you could have a SAFE cheap local source of power generation? We have the technology and it would create permanent local jobs and affordable lives as the control of the energy would be decentralised:
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-22-germanys-solar-panels-produce-more-power-than-japans-entire-fuku -
oRNELLA sAIBENE
commented
Thanks Jude, the truth must be laid bare,and justice has to be done, the nuclear industry must be stopped, children not yet born will pay the terrible price for the arrogance and stupidity of a few men
-
Jude
commented
I send applause to Ornella and Marrianne and agree with every word
-
oRNELLA sAIBENE
commented
Joe U235 "When managed properly it can be a safe and reliable source of power." Well sorry but it's not managed properly, Fukushima being an excellent example, also why don't you check the governments own Sustainable development committee's report's conclusion that we are, as an island in a prime position to produce enough energy with renewables. Nuclear is not safe, not cheap, not green. Radioactivity destroys the very fabric of life, electricity production is the civil smokescreen for military weapons such as depleted uranium and uranium weapons that are poisoning the DNA of life and are causing the most horrific birth deformities in Iraq and Afghanistan.Also we must not dismiss low level radiation and its impact on communities living around nuclear power stations (kikk report). Yea and as you have pointed out decommissioning these plants would need more electricity...and we would have to manage the most poisonous man made substance for centuries...so why build more of these monsters, it doesn't make economic or environmental sense!
-
Marianne Birkby commented
CASTLES IN THE AIR - RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES IN THE SAND
Children ARE dancing on the waste .....
Each tide that washes into the coasts of Cumbria brings radioactive particles. The latest "discovery" of measurable "alpha-rich" particles was found on the beach near Workington on December 12, 2010, the local authority was only told this month. The Environment Agency monitor a small part of the Cumbrian coast from Silecroft to Solway - so far they have "detected and removed more than 1,200 radioactive items."
Allerdale Council Agenda 2nd March 2011
Radioactive Particles hidden under "Other" on page 19
http://webapps.allerdale.gov.uk/moderngov/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=3011&T=10
How many more radioactive particles can humanity take?
http://101-uses-for-a-nuclear-power-station.blogspot.com/ -
Jude
commented
Tsunami's are not unknown in Britain. Just because we haven't had one in our lifetime.......
I live on a fault line not a million miles from Oldbury nuclear power station -
Andy Kent
commented
I used to say, when the next generation of children can dance on the waste, I'll support it.
With radiocative clouds heading towards Canada, the recent news clearly demonstrates such support would be unfounded. -
Elisabeth Winkler
commented
Nuclear is not necessary.
Nuclear, no more. -
Andrew Sherwood
commented
I heard a professor ( Sorry Can't remember his name) on radio 5 talking about the disaster in Japan. The Interviewer asked well we aren't at risk of a tsunami are we? He replied that there was a Horizon programme on BBC2 a few years back and they were saying that one of the Canary islands is forecast to blow up and the side of the mountain will be blown into the sea. If this happens it will hit numerous nuclear power stations on the west and southern coast of the UK. There is also a glacier in Norway that is forecast to shed an enormous amount of ice and this will potentially cause a tsunami. If and when these happen it will be devastating but the nuclear power stations will make the disaster much worse.
We do not need nuclear power if they invested as much in green technology as nuclear power we would be much better placed. It isn't only the legacy of the nuclear waste for thousands of years they do not count the amount of carbon gases produced whilst building and decommissioning the power stations.
Micro-generation has to be part of the answer with local communities producing energy from wind, hydro,solar and ground and air source heat pumps.
SAY NO TO NUCLEAR-Boycott any company investing in it. -
Jude
commented
Joe, I think you live on a different planet to the rest of us! You obviously close your eyes and ears to the real world. I don't want to leave a radioactive world to my grandchildren, and if that means using less electricity, so be it.
Hundreds if not thousands of people are going to die as a result of the tragedy in Japan. Don't they count?
Or is it like the CEGB top man once said, "a few deaths are acceptable and worth it in the long run, and the price we have to pay." ? How would you like that "acceptable" death to be your grandchild? -
Joe U235
commented
Nuclear power is a viable option and should not be over looked by people who have seen recent reports in the news. When managed properly it can be a safe and reliable source of power.
In Britain we will be de-commisioning many nuclear reactors in the near future , that will mean we will have to burn much more fossil fuel to fill the gap in energy required.
The burning of more fossil fuels will pollute the environment and use up valuable resources that can only be used once.
Solar and wind WILL NOT be able to fill the gap left from nuclear but only supplement another more reliable power generation method which does not yet exist.
To the people that think that nuclear should not be used feel free to stop using electricity any time you want. Or even better only use power when the wind blows and the sun shines. I know I couldn't. I bet you won't either! -
Jude
commented
One of the things that interests me most is the fact that Japan is having trouble with the stored nuclear waste. Quite apart from the madness of actually producing it in the first place, we have no idea as yet of how to deal with the waste. Plus the ever present likelihood of human error.
We can't sit here and say how stupid they were to build the plant on a fault line in a country prone to earthquakes. Britain has earthquakes! Small ones I know, but there have been bigger ones in Britain's geological history, than in recent years, and could be again...at any time.
We have to stop them building more nuclear power stations
I agree with Dominic, invest in a safer, cleaner future for all. -
Dominic Smith
commented
Why do we drag our heals with renewable technologies and investment into this science! We need to view this as an opportunity for the UK to lead the way, not an excuse to rely on this now dated technology-one look at the recent terrible events in Japan and the Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear power station makes you realise that we need to invest money, time and initiative into a safer, cleaner future for all!
please sign this petition until 38 degrees raises one;
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petitionagainsthinkleycaug2010/
-
Angela Paine
commented
Nuclear power is dangerous. Uranium mining destroys the environment. Nuclear waste is the most toxic legacy that human kind has ever created. We must put a stop to it NOW
-
Andrew Crow
commented
To Callan I would say that Nuclear is no more or less safe than it ever was, but maybe the management of the danger is better than it was. We do understand it better, but the Japanese experience is that understanding doesn't necessarily put out the fires, and inevitably we will always have to deal with plant that is older than would be ideal. Events in Japan today cast serious doubts on the viability of ensuring adequate back-up facilities in the event of major failure of systems (however caused). On balance Nuclear power generation is high risk and the cosequences of mistakes are not something that can be dealt with by throwing money at the problem.
The economic viability of nuclear generation is something which is still not calculable. That, with the best will in the world, makes a methodical cost-benefit analysis impossible. And that's before you consider the price that can be put onto human lives lost......
On balance I have to favour the 'anti' position.
-
oRNELLA sAIBENE
commented
We cannot contain the destructiveness of nuclear power, we have ageing nuclear power plants to shut down and absolutely no solution for the safe disposal of nuclear waste, we could be going through what the Japonese people are going through. In 1999 for example HinkleyB's reactor lost power for three hours, because of a storm....we as humans cannot control the damage that radiation once released can do.. we have already created huge uninhabitable areas and terrible deformities through the use of civil and military nuclear based technologies and weapons....isn't it time we learnt our lesson. Also economically and environmentally the whole nuclear power debate from the government, multinational electric companies and DECC is full of deception, these people are robbing generations of our common future.
-
Jude
commented
Callan, you gave me my first really good laugh of the day! Nuclear energy cannot change. It is dangerous full stop. Why do you think they make bombs with it? In a few years time, ask all the Japanese people suffering from cancer, if they think nuclear power is not as dangerous as it used to be.!! The mind boggles. There is a saying,,,,"There are none so blind as those who do not want to see..."
-
callan walsh
commented
Nuclear energy is not as dangerous as it used to be, and is improving.
-
Jude
commented
John Graham, I do have an open mind, and I also have common sense. It says a categorical NO to Nuclear power. Nuclear power has no benefits for any sane person.
