After twelve years in power the British Labour government yesterday outlined what it has deemed a “low carbon transition plan”. Coopting language from the growing Transition Town movement is a crafty tactic by the British government that is promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34% by 2020 with 80% cut by 2050. Let’s get … Read More
Nuclear energy
Nuclear Spin Doctors Win As Greens Go Pro-Nukes
Earlier this month, the crème of the nuclear industry spin doctors gathered in Edinburgh in Scotland at the posh Sheraton Hotel. The event, known as PIME 2009, is where they outline their public relations techniques as to how to try and sell a dangerous, expensive and dirty fuel as green, clean and climate friendly.
1,000 Nuclear Plants Needed to Break Oil Addiction
Out of the frying pan into the fire. In a bid to end the global “addiction to oil”, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has signalled he wants the UK to play a major role in the race to build an extra 1,000 nuclear power stations across the world. Brown, who is flying to Saudia Arabia … Read More
Nuclear’s CO2 Cost “Will Climb”
It’s the myth on which the ongoing nuclear renaissance is built: that nuclear power is one of the solutions to climate change. But now the case for nuclear power as a low carbon energy source to replace fossil fuels has been challenged in a new report by Australian academics. It suggests greenhouse emissions from the … Read More
UK Goes Nuclear
After years of dithering by the government and a slick PR campaign by the industry, the UK government is set to approve a new generation of nuclear power stations today. The business secretary, John Hutton, will tell MPs that new stations must be built to ensure future security of supply and help produce a balanced … Read More
McCain Warns of Vulnerability of Foreign Oil
In the third of three major policy addresses, Republican presidential candidate, John McCain has talked about the “great and urgent challenge – breaking our nation’s critical dependence on foreign sources of oil”. In a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) McCain warned that America’s “dependency on foreign oil and the way … Read More
Oz Goes Nuclear
A report to Autralian Prime Minister John Howard has concluded that twenty-five nuclear reactors, mainly on the east coast, could be producing a third of Australia’s electricity needs by the year 2050. The cost of nuclear power would be substantially higher than fossil fuels, but the attachment of a price on carbon emissions could make … Read More
Twenty Years on From Chernobyl the Answer is Blowing in the Wind
Twenty years after Chernobyl the nuclear industry is enjoying a renaissance it could only have dreamed of a few years ago. The twin issues of climate change and energy security have driven it up the political agenda both in Europe and in the US.
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