Nuclear Spin
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 key pro-nuclear advocates in the UK who are pushing for a resumption of nuclear power. It documents some of the public relations tactics being used by the industry to fool the public into believing that Britain's future is nuclear.
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NuclearSpin in the news
So far documents from Nuclear Spin have been covered in The Guardian, The Sunday Herald and The Sunday Times.
