PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION
We, the undersigned, call on the Government to:
• Cancel all plans for new reactors,
• Phase out all nuclear power production,
• Commit to developing an energy system based on renewable energy.
Major disasters at Windscale, Chernobyl and Fukushima show the dangers associated with nuclear reactors while studies reveal their routine operation leads to increased local child leukaemia. They produce large volumes of radioactive waste, much of which will remain dangerous for millennia to come. And nuclear power and nuclear weapons industries are inextricably linked: nuclear power grew out of the nuclear weapons programme.
The costs of new nuclear are extremely high and rising, compared with the low costs of the renewables which continue to decline. Yet the Government gives large subsidies to nuclear not the renewables.
We need safe, healthy, inexpensive, and sustainable energy sources, not the dangerous diversion of nuclear power. Renewable energy offers a clear alternative to nuclear.
Nuclear power is expensive
The British public massively subsidises the nuclear industry and will continue to do so to the tune of around £30 billion following the Hinkley deal. The government has had to guarantee the price of electricity produced at the station at levels far higher than today’s actual prices. On top of that, decommissioning all of our current nuclear sites will likely cost us more than £100 billion. If a major accident happens, aside from the catastrophic human and environmental costs, the taxpayer will have to foot a gigantic clean-up, evacuation and compensation bill.
Nuclear power is dirty
Nuclear power produces enormous amounts of carcinogenic radioactive waste, some of which is dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years. There is still no safe, long-term solution for storing this waste and yet the government wants to produce more with no answer in sight.
Nuclear power is dangerous
Apart from the waste, nuclear power production can lead to cancer clusters and potentially catastrophic disasters or accidents. There is always the risk of terrible nuclear accidents like those at Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Windscale (Sellafield) happening again, releasing large amounts of toxic radiation into the air.
Even small amounts of radiation exposure may be harmful and nuclear power stations are routinely allowed to release low levels of radioactive emissions into our environment. Growing evidence indicates that cancer clusters are linked to nuclear power. Uranium mining has taken the lives of many miners around the world too and creates more radioactive waste and environmental contamination.
Attacks on power stations are a real threat. Plus, the more radioactive material that exists in the world, the greater the risk that some will get into the wrong hands and be used to make a dirty bomb.
Nuclear weapons proliferation
The nuclear power and nuclear weapons industries share a common technological basis. As long as our government promotes nuclear power world-wide there is always the risk other countries will use the technology to build up a nuclear weapons capability just as Britain did.
Renewable energy sources offer a clear alternative to nuclear. If billions were to be invested in the UK developing these technologies rather than subsidising the nuclear industry, we could soon have enough secure and clean energy sources from renewables while creating thousands of new jobs.
While nuclear power remains a very expensive source of energy, wind and solar power gets cheaper and cheaper every year. Meanwhile, as renewables technology moves forward, output from a nuclear power station cannot be turned up and down as power needs vary, meaning that far too much energy is being produced at certain times of the year. Redirecting just a small amount of the public money that’s allocated to nuclear energy could allow world-leading research into storage options for renewable energy so that energy is not wasted.