Nuclear spin

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NuclearSpin

Welcome to NuclearSpin, your unique portal on the nuclear debate. Nuclear power remains central to the British government’s plans for energy. In May 2012, the new Energy Secretary Ed Davey told the Nuclear Development Forum, the industry-government body which coordinates new build in the UK, that the government believed “the UK remains the best place in the world to invest in new nuclear”. [1]

At the same meeting, Vincent de Rivaz, the head of EDF Energy, thanked the British government for their “sense of confidence that new nuclear in the UK should and will go ahead". 2012, he added, is the “defining year” for new nuclear in the UK.

Despite Fukushima and the pull-outs of the nuclear market by other operators, de Rivaz’s message to the nuclear industry was to “Carry On and to Keep Calm.” [2] It is business as usual.

But many unanswered questions remain over nuclear: especially over safety, subsidies and waste. All these issues have not yet been resolved, yet the British government is pushing ahead with a new generation of nuclear power plants. In May 2010, the coalition agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said there would no public subsidies for nuclear. However, we know that the Coalition is trying to wriggle around this commitment by fudging to floor price for carbon. They may well fudge the decommissioning costs too. There is also evidence that the industry and government colluded to spin the safety message after Fukushima.

Even MPs do not trust the Government to tell the truth about nuclear. In July 2012, the Science and Technology Committee concluded that "the Government's position as an advocate for nuclear power makes it difficult for the public to trust it as an impartial source of information. [3]

This site is designed to help you see through the nuclear spin. Throughout 2012 we will be updating this portal and its associated pages, the bulk of which were developed in 2008-09. If you'd like to help us by becoming a Powerbase contributor, please email the managing editor melissa.jones@powerbase.info

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".[4] [5]

What made Gordon Brown's decision in January 2008 to give the go-ahead to a new generation of nuclear plants politically sensitive was his younger brother Andrew Brown's role as director of communications with EDF Energy, the UK subsidiary of EDF and one of the leading companies pushing for a nuclear rebuild programme in the UK.

The Labour Government also sped up the planning process, making it easier for nuclear power plants to be built. Planning Minister Yvette Cooper was criticised for her "nuclear cronyism" due to her father's links to the nuclear industry.

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

To help people make up their own minds about nuclear power, NuclearSpin was last updated and expanded in 2008/09 with the following information:

  • Expanded profiles on pro-nuclear organisations and lobby groups.
  • NuclearSpin also worked with Sourcewatch to develop a Nuclear Portal page. Some articles and profiles have now been deleted from this NuclearSpin site and moved across to SourceWatch. Deleted pages include a redirect to the relevant Sourcewatch page.

In 2012 we began the process of updating the NuclearSpin portal, focusing on the companies that are pushing nuclear in the UK.


NuclearSpin Categories

Nuclear spin.png This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch.

NuclearSpin News

NuclearSpin or documents from this website have been covered by:

Resources

Briefings

9 May 2012: Broken Promises: Subsiding the Nuclear Industry

Briefings archive

To help people understand key issues on nuclear power, NuclearSpin in 2009 published a series of in-depth analysis pieces on key issues surrounding the debate concerning building new nuclear power plants in the UK. We will be updating these briefings and associated pages in 2012.

Search for other articles on the Nuclear push at the Spinwatch site

Notes

  1. Nuclear Development Forum, Minutes, 15 May 2012
  2. Nuclear Development Forum, Minutes, 15 May 2012
  3. Science and Technology Committee, Devil's bargain? Energy risks and the public, First Report, 9 July 2012
  4. Deborah Summers, Government loses nuclear power case, The Guardian, 15 February 2007,
  5. BBC News, Nuclear Review "Was Misleading", 15 February 2007,