Britain gets nuclear waste warning from energy chiefs

Britain must not go ahead with a new generation of nuclear power stations until it has a “clear and robust” plan in place for dealing with the twin problems of decommissioning and waste treatment, the world’s leading energy body warned yesterday.

The International Energy Agency also said that any new nuclear programme must be funded entirely from the private sector, without any government subsidy or market intervention.
In its latest review of UK energy policy, the agency said that it supported the building of new nuclear stations as an important part of the country’s future energy mix. However, it added that the Government’s current proposals for dealing with issues such as planning and construction, long-term waste management and guidance for potential financial backers were “too vague to provide the required certainty”.

Ministers have pledged to address this in the forthcoming energy White Paper. The document had been due to be published in the next fortnight but has been delayed until May after the environmental campaign group Greenpeace succeeded in a High Court action claiming that the Government had failed to consult properly last year on the twin issues of financing a new nuclear programme and waste management.

Introducing the IEA report, Claude Mandil, the agency’s executive director, said: “The spent-fuel issue is the most critical one for nuclear. It will not develop if there is not a credible and satisfactory answer to the management of spent fuel and one which is convincing for the public.”

Independent