U.K. Cabinet Supports New Generation of Nuclear Plants

The U.K. Cabinet supported the option of a new generation of nuclear plants.  This comes into opposition with the beliefs of environmentalists, who say the option is unsafe.
“There was a very good discussion with many interventions,” Emily Hands, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She went on to say that no ministers had directly opposed of the option of building new nuclear power plants.
The decision marks a new direction for Britain as it considers building its first nuclear power plants for more than a decade. A quarter of U.K. generation capacity will go off line by 2015. Brown was in favor of nuclear power to meet the need and to help fill targets for cutting carbon emissions and secure energy supplies. Nuclear power currently generates about a fifth of electricity output.
Business Secretary John Hutton will unveil a new energy strategy to Parliament on Jan. 10.  Groups like Greenpeace do not favor the proposed new energy policy because of accidents such as the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.  Environmentalists support new wind and wave power generation and more public awareness and action on energy efficiency.
“Going for nuclear allows politicians like Gordon Brown to project the impression that they are taking difficult decisions,” Greenpeace director John Sauven commented. “In reality, new nuclear power stations simply will not solve our energy problems.”