Nuclear Spin

Welcome to the Nuclearspin website

On 23 January 2006, the British government officially launched a 12 week consultation exercise on Britain's energy needs entitled: "Our Energy Challenge: securing clean, affordable energy for the long term". That review officially ended in April, with the government making an official decision on whether to commission a new generation of nuclear power plants by the summer.

However all the indications are that Tony Blair has made his mind up. In November 2005, Blair was said to be already 'convinced' of the pro-nuclear argument. Some two months before, Blair convened a secret meeting at Chequers where informed sources have said that nuclear was given the green light.

Because of Blair's conversion to the nuclear cause as well the pro-nuclear bias of the Cabinet, the Energy Review is seen by some as a cynical PR exercise by the government that gives the appearance of a public debate, whilst the decision is already made up. To others the public consultation exercise is a genuine public debate.

Whatever the case, the pro-nuclear lobby is working vehemently behind the scenes to secure a new generation of nuclear power stations. This year is the twentieth anniversary of the accident at Chernobyl, which effectively killed off nuclear power in Europe for a generation. Now the twin concerns of energy security and climate change have given nuclear a new political lease of life, undreamed of only a few years ago by its most ardent supporters.

The Nuclear Spin website is designed to help people find out more about the individuals involved in the push for new nuclear power stations in the UK. Some of them are advocates of nuclear power, while others are key advisors or ministers in government who will be making decisions about nuclear in the coming weeks and months. The website documents some of the public relations tactics being used by the industry to fool the public into believing that Britain's future is nuclear.

We hope you enjoy it. If you want to get involved please see the menus on the left hand column.

NuclearSpin in the news

So far documents from Nuclear Spin have been covered in/on:

The Guardian, May 03, 2006;
The Guardian, May 24, 2006;
The Guardian, June 7, 2006;
The Sunday Herald; May 14, 2006;
The Sunday Times; May 7, 2006;
Open Democracy; May 18, 2006;
BBC Newsnight Scotland, May 17 2006;
Private Eye, No. 1159, 26 May - 8 June 2006

What's New on the NuclearSpin Site

We have recently added new FOI documents on Nirex; CoRWM and its PR company Luther Pendragon and new ones on BNFL and its PR company Weber Shandwick – including their PR strategy to spin nuclear power.