Nuclear Power - Full of Wind?

south west | the environment | news report Wednesday September 24, 2008 20:34 by EnergyWatch - SouthWestWatch

SouthWestWatch - What Matters in the SW with Go-Faster Stripes On

SouthWestWatch - fast gossip that and pleasing smell of afterburning comment. This is from our EnergyWatch department; a confusing policy mess on energy.

In a new report with a name from a cheap sci-fi series, The Road to 2020, the South West RDA is gushing about the clean-green future for the region;

"Jonny Boston, energy manager at the South West RDA, which contributed to the analysis, said: "Whilst the report highlights the huge scale of the challenge, it also sets out the opportunity. The UK renewable energy market is expected to grow 10-fold over the next 12 years, and we therefore expect to see significant growth in the region's renewables sector."

OOh! So exciting! But hark - a cloud on the horizon to obscure our solar-powered glee. The first new nuclear plant for 20 years will be built here in the clean-green South West! The FT is jubilant;

In a picture-postcard landscape of farms and villages at the foot of the Quantock hills, Hinkley Point on the north Somerset coast is an unlikely setting for a revolution in British energy policy. But it is here that the first new nuclear power station in Britain for more than two decades is likely to be built, following the £12.4bn ($23bn) takeover of British Energy by EDF. The takeover is expected to be announced on Wednesday. In Shurton, the nearest village to Hinkley Point, new investment in nuclear power is a sensitive issue.

So where was the RDA on this massive national project happeing locally?

Meeting notes from the 10th September revealed, "There were differing views on whether the Agency should respond to the nuclear power consultation, but it was agreed that this was a national issue for Government to determine and that the Agency did not have the time or technical expertise to respond in full to the detailed questions posed. " (Pity they did not do the same with airport expansion before spending £22 million!)

But back in 2006 they did have an opinion. Claire Gibson, director of planning, transport and environment at the RDA told us, "But what is encouraging is that the Minister has said any future development of nuclear power will not be funded by subsidies from the taxpayer, which could have impacted on the development of renewable energy technologies." So perhaps the RDA should have reminded the government of the fact that spending on nuclear may damage the big-green wind push they are planning locally? Especially in the light of a Guardian 2007 investigation entitled 'Nuclear's hidden subsidies'; "Gifts to the nuclear industry come in many guises, via government subsidies to help cover the cost of insurance, regulation and research and development, without which the private sector wouldn't invest in nuclear power."

Still, we can all enjoy the 2003 statement from Cllr Alan Gloak of Somerset County Council with the glow of hindsight: "We welcome these innovative ideas on the production of energy and such ideas add to the arguments that we could dispense with the need to build a further nuclear powered power station and all of the problems that installations of that type bring." Ooops Alan! Ooops!

You can read the Road to 2020 here; http://regensw.co.uk/road-to-2020

other recent SWwatch news items (we are thinking of getting a blog...)

More Trouble for Bristol Airport
http://www.bristol.indymedia.org/article/688836

Red Faces at the Evening Post & The Decline of the Local Press
http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/688859