Government should suspend its new nuclear programme
28th March 2011
Dr Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test has jointly sponsored Early Day Motion 1615 as part of his ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of Nuclear power.
The Early Day Motion states that:
- “this House deeply regrets the loss of life caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and expresses its sincere condolences to all those affected by the disaster;
- understands the unique circumstances of Japan's place on a major geological fault-line;
- but nevertheless believes that events in Fukushima underline the extreme dangers inherent in nuclear power and the inevitable inability of even the highest design and safety standards to protect us from unforeseen events;
- and therefore calls on the Secretary of State to suspend the Government's plans for a new nuclear power programme in the UK.”
Dr Whitehead has also written about the emergency at Fukushima, and how we could encounter similar problems in the UK, saying:
“There are some parallels [between the UK situation and Fukushima] to the extent that all but one of the present UK reactors are built on sites that may be exposed to flooding in future years, especially if sea levels and anticyclonic activities rise in the next decades as predicted.”
He added:
“These latest events don’t sway me from the view I’ve taken over a long period, which is that proposals to build new nuclear power are a choice, not a necessity. It has never been true, as some new-build zealots allege that the lights will go out if we don’t commission a new generation of nuclear power immediately: they won’t and the contribution nuclear power makes now or will make in the future to our overall energy requirements – electricity heat and transport – is tiny, and can be sourced for the future by other means.”
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