Tony's nuclear wheeze..A case of Entente Con Cordiale ?

Tony Blair first spoke publicly about nuclear power on January 30th 2005 in Manchester ..this is what he said ..

"We don’t have any plans to open new power stations .... I think there is a debate to be had about nuclear power but it has to happen in a rational way. If we suggest a new generation of nuclear power in this country I can guarantee there will be public concern about it so we would have to look at what is going on in other countries very carefully."

Last night the moguls of UK industry sat down to feed themselves at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) dinner and listen to Prime Minister. Tony Blair faced the inevitable consequences of the insane run down of the UK's oil and gas reserves , along with the destruction of the indiginous deep coal industry. This, combined with MrsThatcher's "lunatic "dash for gas" as Closed Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) plants were installed willy nilly, a policy stopped by the dumb Deputy Prime Minister and then later re-started.The imminent closure of most coal and nuclear stations in the period to 2025 means the UK will require significant investment in new core generating plant.

This is what Tony said to industries top brass ..."Essentially, the twin pressures of climate change and energy security are raising energy policy to the top of the agenda in the UK and around the world." ...which is completely untrue. The UK is in this position, as it has moved from a country being wholly 100% self reliant in energy to one that within 10 years will become wholly reliant on imported energy, with all the trading consequences, security issues and impact on society these will have. It has got absolutely fuck all to do with Co2 / climate change / global warming.and a great deal to do with energy security - which given Putin and his gang's policies of using energy as a power play, IS of massive interest.


"Yesterday I received the first cut of the [energy] review. The facts are stark. By 2025, if current policy is unchanged, there will be a dramatic gap on our targets to reduce emissions, we will become heavily dependent on gas and at the same time move from being 80-90 per cent self-reliant in gas to 80-90 per cent dependent on foreign imports, mostly from the Middle East, and Africa and Russia. (All of which was evident in the late 90's)

Mr Blair has also decided there will not be a separate white paper after the energy review, (i.e he realises time is fast running out) suggesting there will be no legislation to bring in nuclear stations - reducing the opportunities for a focused backbench rebellion in the Commons. He will face familiar questions on the cost and safe disposal of nuclear waste, and strong criticism from his own Sustainable Development Commission, chaired by Jonathon Porritt.... which he will of course totally ignore after making suitably emolliant noises.

For Tony the crucial thing is ,a survey of 1,491 people this year, carried out by Mori and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, found 60% of people would support new atomic power stations as long as renewable energy sources were developed and used at the same time, and 63% agreed that Britain needed nuclear power as part of a mix of sources to ensure a reliable supply.

THAT is the clincher for Blair , who last January said , "there will be public concern", this was of course ahead of the election, but he knew that the immediate political consequences were more important to him then , than the energy security of the UK in the next 50 years.

Now we learn today that the Scots are going to try and maintain nuclear energy as a core source and extend the lives of current stations and even have new build.

The major problem of new build power station is...who literally will build them, does the UK have the firms, the staff, the knowledge, the expertise to build and run them .. say like the French, who by owning so much of the industry now MUST have a big influence on any decision making. As British Energy said in their submission to the Energy review ..."any policy should address the decline in industrial and intellectual ‘infrastructure’ since this will be needed to support the UK’s long-term energy strategy.

For example today, there is not a single British university offering a full undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering.

Looks like Tony is going to be giving the go -ahead to the French pulling the UK's irons out of the fire. He should worry, he will be long gone by the time they are pumping out the kilowatts.
Just in time (nice coincidence heh ?) French Group Areva (which has built 98 of the world's 443 reactors) have published their submission to the Energy review

They say (broadly) that a new generation of nuclear power stations can be launched in the UK without Government subsidy and operate within a competitive energy market and producing by 2017, given certain conditions about planning and waste disposal..

Friends get fed up of me quoting Nye Bevin ..."This is an island of coal surrounded by a sea full of fish. Only an organising genius could organise a shortage of both."