Nuclear spin

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Welcome to NuclearSpin

Exclusive: Government Department Secretly Discussed Going Pro-Nuclear

The Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, the Government department in charge of over-seeing Britain’s nuclear legacy, secretly discussed making the controversial decision of actively promoting a new generation of nuclear power plants, even though the Agency is meant to be completely neutral.

NuclearSpin has obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act prepared for a meeting between NDA managers and its PR consultants, Bell Pottinger for a meeting in October last year.

Under its “position on key issues", the NDA sets out its policy on “new build” and asks: “how much longer is it sustainable to hold a neutral position? What is needed is clarity. What are the implications, legal and reputational and positioning wise of being pro new build”. The document then warns that this issue is of real concern “as the wrong answer to a question could trigger legal / Judicial Review possibilities from the antis.”

The documents were prepared in preparation for a “High Level NDA Communications Strategy” that took place in December 2008, mapping out the NDA’s vision from Autumn 2008 until March 2010 as well as the organisation’s vision until 2020.

Realising their mistake in sending out the document, the NDA sent an “agreed record” of the NDA/ Bell Pottinger discussions, with the above text removed.

Also removed was a draft of a “user friendly story of the NDA so far”. This included the sentence: “We recognised that while the nuclear industry has many strengths in terms of its technology and safety record, it also has weaknesses – namely, a tendency to be secretive and insular and, at times, of being guilty of intellectual arrogance.”

New NuclearSpin Briefings

In the current economic climate are you worried about how the nuclear industry and governments may try and spin the finances for new power stations? Will you end up paying for new nuclear power plants? Where are the new sites going to be built in the UK? What about the waste? Where will it be stored? Will it be secure?

All these issues have not yet been resolved, yet the British government is pushing ahead with a new generation of nuclear power plants. To assist people understand key issues on nuclear power, NuclearSpin has launched a series of in-depth analysis pieces on key issues surrounding the debate concerning building new nuclear power plants in the UK. To access just click on the title:

An in-depth look at the costs and financing of the nuclear industry.

This briefing paper examines where new nuclear plants may be sited in the UK

Worried about how the government is going to spin nuclear waste. Then read this briefing paper.

A critical examination of the issues that surround decommissioning in the UK

A look at whether the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is using a "slush fund" to curry influence with local communities.

Background

NuclearSpin was originally launched in response to the British Government's 12-week consultation on energy in 2006. In 2007, the High Court ruled that the Government's plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations were "unlawful" and the way it consulted with the public over the decision was "misleading, seriously flawed, manifestly inadequate and procedurally unfair".[1]

What makes Brown's decision in January 2008 to give the goahead to a new generation of nuclear plants politically sensitive is that his younger brother Andrew Brown works for EDF Energy, the UK subsidiary of EDF, which is one of the leading companies pushing for a nuclear rebuild programme in the UK.

The Labour Government is also speeding up the planning process, making it easier for nuclear power plants to be built. Planning Minister, Yvette Cooper has already had to fight off criticism of "nuclear cronyism" due to her father's links to the nuclear industry too.

For a full briefing on the so-called 'facilitative actions' which the Government is carrying out to speed up nuclear developments see New Nuclear Monitor No.14 (pdf)

To help people make up their own mind about nuclear power, NuclearSpin has been updated and expanded.

  • Expanded profiles on pro-nuclear organisations and lobby groups.
  • NuclearSpin is also working with Sourcewatch to develop a Nuclear Portal page. Some articles and profiles have now been deleted from the NuclearSpin site and moved across to SourceWatch. Each page that has been deleted includes a redirect to the relevant Sourcewatch page

We hope you will find the site useful and informative. We think you will discover that a better understanding of what is going on globally will help you understand what pro-nuclear spin doctors are up to in your country.

The editor of the Nuclear Spin portal is Andy Rowell: andy.rowell AT spinprofiles.org.

NuclearSpin Categories

NuclearSpin in the News

So far NuclearSpin or documents from the website have been covered in/on:

What's New

Check out the following:

  • Nuclear power is the least popular energy source among European Union citizens, according to new research. A special report from Eurobarometer, the public opinion analysis arm of the European Commission, concludes that “EU citizens are most in favour of renewable energy sources while nuclear energy is opposed by many”. Of 24,815 EU citizens interviewed in 25 countries, only one in five said they were in favour of nuclear power, while one in three (39 per cent) expressed strong opposition. The report says: "Nuclear energy provokes the most opposition among EU citizens." To read more, click here (pdf file).
  • The Financial Times reported on February 19, 2007, that Rolf Linkohr, who has been advising Andris Piebalgs, the European energy commissioner, had his contract terminated because he failed to clarify there was no conflict of interest between this role, and his role as a pro-nuclear lobbyist. The sacking came after a campaign by Corporate Europe Observatory.
  • Check out the new video section on SpinWatch including one on the dangers of civil nuclear power featuring David Lochbaum from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Other Nuke News

Get the latest news on the Nuclear push at the Spinwatch site