14 DAY TRIAL // The United Kingdom (UK) plans to move forward with the construction of a new generation of power plants, which it wants to have ready as soon as possible. Detailed plans of the initiative will be announced any day now by Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change secretary. The MP will also speak about the most suitable places for constructing nuclear power plants throughout the country, as well as how this enterprise will be set on the fast track. According to the BBC News, planning laws that are in effect in the country will also be changed, so as to allow for the accelerated construction.
Analysts believe that the UK government will essentially encourage a number of power companies to develop new generations of nuclear reactors by as early as 2017. When compared with the electricity obtained from coal, natural gas and oil, the one derived from nuclear fission is cleaner and more efficient. However, there are also larger risks involved. The cases of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island are still fresh in everyone's memory, and some groups have a really hard time accepting the construction of new nuclear reactors at other locations than the existing ones.
Environmentalist groups in the UK are already making a stand, warning people that, from a legal standpoint, there is nothing they can do to prevent the new decisions. The fact of the matter is that the new legislation, which will allow for the rapid construction of the power plants, will not be subjected to public debate, therefore eco-friendly groups will be unable to influence the decision. Representatives from one group urge citizens to organize and sue the government, as this may be the only way of stopping the construction process.
“Nuclear power leaves a deadly legacy of radioactive waste that remains highly dangerous for tens of thousands of years and costs tens of billions of pounds to manage. And building new plants would divert precious resources from developing safe renewable power, while doing little to bring about the urgent emissions reductions that are desperately needed within the next decade,” Andy Atkins, the executive director at the group Friends of the Earth, says.
“We don't need coal or nuclear, because proven green technologies such as wind and combined heat and power stations can secure Britain's energy needs, create green jobs and slash our emissions,” the Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaign head, Robin Oakley, adds. “We now need to move on to getting the actions in place to make it happen. That is why the national policy statements and Infrastructure Planning Commission are important, because the truth is that we are not going to be able to deliver a 21st Century energy system with a 20th Century planning system,” Miliband counters.