Nuclear power is 'colossal mistake' says Mayor

Published by webmaster for Mayor of London's Press Office in Communities

Commenting on the outcome of the government's energy review, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: 'It is a colossal mistake to head off down the nuclear path once again. We need a solution to the climate change that protects the environment rather than threatens it, and one that does not literally cost the earth.

'Nothing in the review leads me to change my mind that commissioning a new generation of nuclear will be a huge waste of precious time and money, and a real diversion from the critical task of cutting carbon emissions. There is widespread opposition amongst Londoners to nuclear power and the movement of nuclear waste around the capital.

'There is not a country in the world that has managed to build a nuclear power station without considerable public subsidy. In Britain we’ve never managed to build one to budget. That’s before taking into account the huge costs of dealing with radioactive waste – now estimated by the Treasury at £90bn. It stretches credulity to suggest that the private sector will be now be able to deliver commercially viable nuclear power without subsidy from the public purse.

'Equally the Review does nothing to demonstrate that nuclear power will make any real impact on tackling climate change. New nuclear will be on too small a scale to make any real impact on cutting carbon emissions, and even with fast-track planning procedures won’t make any contribution for the next decade and a half. But it will consume vast resources and huge amounts of political capital – all of which could have been better spent on reducing energy demand through improved efficiency and decentralising generation, and by a major increase in renewable energy investment.

'Global warming is the single biggest problem humanity has to solve. We no longer have the time to make mistakes like this. The government had a real chance to put Britain at the forefront of tackling climate change and it gives me no pleasure to say that it has failed to take it.'

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Press release issued: July 11 2006