Buried in the nuclear white paper published today is a commitment by the government to bail out nuclear power if something goes wrong.

Reacting, Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said:

"After all the promises from ministers that the private sector would pay the full costs of new nuclear power stations, we find it wasn't true. Buried in the small print of their announcement is the revelation that tax payers will foot the bill if something goes wrong. Much about the government's nuclear spin has been fundamentally dishonest."

Paragrph 3.52 of the white paper states: "Our policy on waste and decommissioning for new nuclear power stations is designed to ensure that operators make adequate arrangements to cover the full costs of decommissioning and a full share of waste management costs. Operators are responsible for decommissioning and waste management costs. If the protections we are putting in place through the Energy Bill prove insufficient, in extreme circumstances the Government may be called upon to meet the costs of ensuring the protection of the public and the environment."

For more information, contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255.

Reacting to the publication by Ruth Kelly of a Planning White Paper, Greenpeace Director John Sauven said:

“The government wants to give the rubber stamp to the wrong projects. Ministers are diluting democracy and saying they know best, but a glance at their performance on climate change over the last decade shows how wrong they often are. This White Paper is clearly intended to open the door to new nuclear power stations and airports, which will take the UK’s fight against climate change backwards. Given the urgency of the problem, this White Paper should have supported low carbon and renewable energy technologies that are of benefit to both local communities and the wider environment and could be generating clean energy in the near future.”

This week will see the publication of an Energy White Paper, delayed following a successful Greenpeace judicial review. For a full media briefing on the Energy White Paper see:

www.greenpeace.org.uk/energyreview

ENDS

For more contact Greenpeace on 0207 865 8255.

In February, a High Court judge described Tony Blair’s energy review as "seriously flawed", "misleading" and "manifestly inadequate and unfair". Mr Justice Sullivan ruled in favour of Greenpeace - which had brought a judicial review - declaring the energy review process unlawful.

As a result, the government's 2007 Energy White Paper - intended for publication in March - was delayed. Next week a series of documents, including the white paper, will be published.

ON MONDAY a planning white paper will be published. It will detail government proposals to loosen planning regulations, allowing new nuclear power stations and airport expansion to go ahead in the face of public opposition.

ON WEDNESDAY it is expected that the energy white paper will be published. On the same day, details of a new nuclear consultation will be revealed. The new consultation became necessary after the original process was found by the High Court to have been unlawful. Greenpeace claimed the first consultation was a "stitch-up" by Tony Blair, designed to foist new nuclear power stations on the UK. It is also believed that a government nuclear siting report could be released on Wednesday. The report, detailing where the government would like to see new nuclear power stations built, was refused to Greenpeace under a Freedom of Information Act request.

A full media briefing on the successful Greenpeace judicial review, the process leading up to next week and the fundamental flaws in next week's announcements can be downloaded here:

www.greenpeace.org.uk/energybriefing

Anticipating next week’s publications, Greenpeace Director John Sauven said:

"Planning, by definition, is supposed to be a vision of the future. Given the urgency of climate change, this Planning White Paper should support low carbon and renewable energy technologies that are of benefit to both local communities and the wider environment. Instead it is clearly intended to open the door to new nuclear power stations and airports which are simply not the answer to the huge challenges we face."

On the Energy White Paper, he added:

"Reaching for nuclear power to fight climate change is like a couch potato taking up smoking to lose weight. It doesn’t deal with the problem, wastes money better spent elsewhere and brings huge problems of its own. That’s why Tony Blair had to fix the energy review to get the answer he wanted."

He continued:

"The government's current energy strategy simply won’t put us on a path to delivering the kinds of cuts needed to combat climate change. We need a policy that will completely transform the way energy is consumed and delivered across all sectors rather than piecemeal changes to the existing system. It’s clear that this forthcoming Energy White Paper will not match the commitments the government has made at an EU level for twenty per cent of our energy, which includes electricity, heat and transport, must come from renewable sources by 2020. For electricity, this will mean around thirty-five per cent must come from renewable sources.”

Greenpeace supports building a new fleet of power stations across the country - modern large scale, renewable energy projects as well as ultra-efficient, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) stations rather than the modified 1950s relics the Government is supporting that waste more energy than they produce. Two-thirds of the energy going in to the UK’s centralised power stations is immediately lost in the form of waste heat.

We are confident that if the government carries out a consultation on nuclear power in the coming months and is open minded about the conclusions it will realise that nuclear power will not deliver either energy security or the carbon reductions required by 2020.

The government needs to change the way we use and generate heat and electricity. This requires a transformation rather than tinkering with an old, outdated system.

ENDS

Greenpeace spokespeople are available for interview and analysis.

Contact the Greenpeace press office on:
0207 865 8255