United Kingdom
The anti-nuclear movement in Britain has a long and active history. The famous peace symbol that has come to have universal meaning was first adopted by the British anti-nuclear weapons movement, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
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The Queen of England, using a "virtual digger" broke ground at the UK's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The facility is to produce components and systems for the new generation of nuclear power stations.
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Further cementing the pointless waste of money of nuclear arsenals, the bill to repair this stranded sub is now expected to run to the hundreds of millions of pounds.
The UK and Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) has backed a joint letter with other nuclear groups raising its deep concerns over the UK Government’s decision to ‘justify’ under European law the two reactor designs for new nuclear electricity generation. The UK Secretary of State Chris Huhne claimed the economic benefits of new nuclear build outweighed any social or health issues. However, the NFLA notes that nuclear investment will damage the nascent local energy revolution which local authorities are leading. This could also damage efforts to tackle climate change. It also noted that nuclear power capital costs are out of control and recent international studies have cast ‘significant doubt’ over the official risk attached to radiation doses received by people living near nuclear reactors. It is still firmly of the belief that only a public inquiry, as called for my many groups and MPs, can ensure these issues are properly resolved. Read the full press release.
While its nuclear projects go south in France and the U.S., EDF is also under assault in the U.K. A new movement - Boycott EDF - is underway. Boycott EDF is a campaign against nuclear power, and targeted at the main perpetrator of nuclear new build in Britain. In addition to blockades, Boycott EDF asks British electricity customers to switch to another company. At left is a picture of the EDF Hinkley Point blockade by protesters opposed to the EDF plans to build a new reactor at the site.
The London Telegraph reports that the new U.K. Minister of Energy and Climate Change, Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, has previously stated that “No private sector investor has built a nuclear power station anywhere in the world without lashings of government subsidy since Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. The World Bank refuses to lend on nuclear projects because of the long history of overruns. Our message is clear, No to nuclear, as it is not a short cut, but a dead end.”
