Great British Nuclear neither Great nor British

Responding to the UK government announcing its backing for a new nuclear reactor at Sizewell C and the launch of Great British Nuclear, Greenpeace UK Policy Director Doug Parr said:

“The launch of Great British Nuclear is clearly ironic as new nuclear is neither great nor British. Projects have been plagued by massive delays and ballooning costs while the government is seeking to have Sizewell C – a French-designed and built reactor – funded by foreign investment funds.

“It’s hard to work out what drives the government’s enthusiasm for new nuclear. It‘s not cheap, or clean, or necessary as there are better, quicker and less expensive options to deliver electricity. Not to mention that technology is steadily becoming available to cover the periods when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. On top of all that, there’s no value-for-money assessment available for Sizewell C so UK taxpayers are essentially buying it sight unseen. It’s like a bad episode of Deal or No Deal.

“Several academic institutes have shown we can have a 100% renewable system that would be cheaper than those based on nuclear or fossil fuels. And it has the added benefit of not creating millennia of worry over the nuclear waste that future generations will end up dealing with. Why are ministers still obsessing about astronomically expensive, delay-plagued nuclear plants when we have much better options available?”