No Nukes! Sack the radioactive Czar! Burn your friend's Labour party membership card.

Nuclear power is uneconomic, it needs coolant so most are by the sea and will be flooded by rising tides, its a terrorist target, the waste lasts for millions of years, lets us use less energy, clean up coal and expand renewables...so we have to turn up the heat on labour, we have to demand that Labour members leave the party and keep fighting them hard in the electoral sphere.

Here is some policy from the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society...ironic as well that Blair is hinting that force is necessary to stop Iran developing new nuclear energy sources!





Nuclear Power

EN600 A deadline for phasing out nuclear power would be set when we come to office and all UK nuclear power plants phased out within this date. (see Policy Statement ENS2)

EN601 All nuclear power stations and associated facilities for the production and reprocessing of nuclear fuel and the storage and disposal of radioactive waste shall be in public ownership to ensure the safest possible closure, decommissioning and long-term management of waste. Any such facilities found to be in private ownership will be returned to the public sector without compensation. Reprocessing at Sellafield and other installations will be ended as soon as possible.

EN602 No more uranium would be imported into the UK and no licences would be granted for the mining of uranium in the UK.

EN603 The unpredictable effects of climate change demand that the safety of UK nuclear power stations and other sites handling and processing radioactive materials require urgent review. Many nuclear plants are in vulnerable coastal locations which face flooding by a combination of severe weather, rising sea levels and spring tides. An action plan to protect these sites would be implemented and the most vulnerable nuclear sites would be closed down and decommissioned at the earliest practicable date.



Existing Energy Sources

EN700 Any new fossil-fuelled power stations to be built in urban areas, where the waste heat could be used in a Combined Heat and Power system.

EN701 All major fuel users to be required to fit equipment which reduces pollution.

EN702 Coal and oil supplies to be graded for polluting effect, the cleanest being routed to small users not controlled under EN701.

EN703 Incentives to be given for running vehicles on fuels producing little or no harmful emissions such as LPG. (see TR306)

EN704 If sufficient supplies are available, an increased role to be sought for fuels producing less carbon dioxide, particularly natural gas.
Renewables

EN800 Positive tax and grant incentives to promote use of renewable energy sources to be introduced immediately.

EN801 Bureaucratic interference with people seeking to use renewable sources of energy to be reduced to a minimum.

EN802 Research and development funding on a scale of that formerly extended to the nuclear power programme to be made available for the development of renewable energy resources. High priority to be given to the means of storing energy, and to the improvement of the distribution of thermal energy.

EN803 Additional emphasis will be placed on the benefits of renewable energy projects that demonstrate significant new innovation towards achieving greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness, particularly those pioneering under-utilised energy sources such as biomass, wave power, tidal power and solar power.

EN804 Planning and building regulation law to be amended to ensure that active and passive solar features and other renewables are included in all new and existing buildings wherever practicable. (see B504)

EN805 Biogas generation from biological decomposition to be utilised as widely as possible. (see NR413)

EN806 The Green Party opposes the mass incineration of municipal, commercial and industrial waste because it requires large-scale plant and therefore a large-scale supply of waste over a long period to justify the investment, which discourages waste reduction and recycling. Incinerators produce harmful emissions, greenhouse gases and highly toxic ash residues that are dumped in landfill. The waste has to be transported over longer distances, almost invariably by road.

EN807 Energy will be recovered from the organic component of domestic waste treated by anaerobic digestion and by recovering methane from existing landfill sites. Encouragement will be given to energy recovery from the burning of energy crops, appropriate grades of agricultural waste and waste timber in small scale plants on farms, industrial sites or in district heating networks.

EN808 Marine and estuarine barrage schemes to be tried on a small scale initially, and only extended if found to be ecologically acceptable. (see CY507)

EN809 There should be a presumption that wind energy schemes, whether small or large, and whether onshore or offshore, should go ahead unless there are overriding and substantial dangers to public health or safety or to wildlife, or it is in a nationally designated scenic area. Local ownership of wind power, by farmers and cooperatives should be encouraged..

EN810 Renewable energy developers to provide a fund for the local community. The fund would primarily subsidise the energy bills of local residents and businesses, on a sliding scale according to proximity, and any excess would go into community projects of the local Councils' choosing. Regional Energy Authorities to be responsible for setting the levels of the funds and subsidies and managing the distribution.

EN811 When fossil fuels are required to bear their full environmental cost, we fully expect that renewable sources of energy will compete in the market with fossil fuels. However, transitional arrangements to subsidise them directly may be required, and any such arrangement should meet these criteria:

the target for renewables should be kept under review and increased ahead of known industry capabilities;

proposals should be considered for support as and when they are submitted;

Nuclear power, domestic and municipal waste incineration should be excluded;

a simplified scheme should operate for smaller, community-owned developments where the majority of the equity is owned by at least twenty residents of the district in which the development is located, or of neighbouring districts, with holdings of at least £1,000 each;

the environmental impact of larger schemes should be considered at an early stage in the process, so that environmentally damaging schemes can be weeded out before they become targets for popular opposition.