Nuclear Power – the FoE Position

Following the Government's recent announcement giving the green light to new nuclear power plants if private business wants to build them, Mike Childs, FoE's Head of Campaigns, has summed up FoE's position on new nuclear build. It's helpful to know this as the issue often comes up in discussions about energy sources.

Friends of the Earth were highly critical of the decision whilst the Unions and CBI were supportive.

We will only be able to do limited work on nuclear power because we are focussing our resources on climate solutions. When we do engage on this issue it is when support for nuclear (e.g. financial support) poses a direct threat to the support needed for the genuine solutions we advocate.

One key obstacle is the costly economics of nuclear. Building the plants is expensive and they often take longer and cost more than advertised. The costs of decommissioning and waste are massive and the cost of uranium is also likely to increase. The Government have publicly said that the industry needs to meet the full costs (as have the Tories).

To help, the Government says it will ensure a high price for carbon (which disadvantages coal and gas), although the market price is largely set by the EU through the Emissions Trading Scheme. It has also said it will help in the cost of decommissioning in “extreme circumstances”.

We believe that this is still unlikely to be enough for the industry to actually go ahead.

Even if a new round of nuclear plants were built to replace the current generation, they would only deliver around 4-5% of UK energy consumption. Britain could meet its energy needs, maintain energy security and tackle climate change through renewables, energy efficiency and more efficient use of fossil fuels without nuclear.

The real battle comes when civil servants find they haven’t the resources to promote renewables, energy efficiency and nuclear power and when the government looks at whether or not it will offer further financial support to the nuclear industry. This is where nuclear runs head on with renewables and energy efficiency. With the price of energy high there is a reluctance in Government to push it higher to support particular technologies. There is some support for renewables and energy efficiency at present – both in political and financial terms – but not nearly enough to drive the massive increase in off-shore wind the Government is "completely committed to" nor the massive increase in decentralised generation and home energy efficiency needed.

So support for nuclear could distract finance and political will away from support for renewables and energy efficiency; this is the fight ahead and we have chosen carefully how best to engage.

So while the Government talks up the case for nuclear and the industry eagerly awaits possible concessions, our challenge is to keep the political focus on the REAL solutions to climate change. This is why we will focus our resources on the solutions. If and when proposals to support nuclear directly undermine the ability to deliver the real solutions, for example through economic support, we will address these. But unless we focus on climate solutions, they will not be delivered.