Roadblock - press release

Blair: Forget nuclear power: transport is the quickest, cheapest, most popular way to tackle climate change

Nuclear energy is an expensive white elephant when it comes to tackling climate change, according to Road Block, the alliance against road building. Carbon dioxide emissions from transport are growing much faster and are quicker and cheaper to solve instead.

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Nuclear power plants can only ever produce electricity; any new plants would replace Britain's older, coal-fired power stations, which currently provide a third of the UK's power [1]. This means even a doubling of nuclear power generation would cut greenhouse gas emissions by only eight per cent. A plan like this would cost anything from tens to hundreds of billions of pounds, would take 15-20 years to bring into effect, and would raise the age-old problems about nuclear pollution, security, terrorism, and waste disposal. It would be massively unpopular with both politicians and the electorate.

Although power stations are the biggest single source of Britain's total CO2 emissions (37%), transport is the second-biggest source (22%) [2] and far and away the fastest growing [3]. Emissions from electricity generation fell by around 12% between 1990 and 2003 (though they have risen again since 1999); emissions from transport and communications almost DOUBLED in the same period [3]. Aviation is now the single, fastest growing source of CO2 emissions. Building more nuclear plants would do nothing to address the enormous growth in emissions from cars, lorries, ships, and planes.

Investing a fraction of the money required for an expansion of nuclear power in public transport could take millions of vehicles off Britain's roads and significantly reduce CO2 emissions within a few years. It would be more politically popular all round.

Yet far from reducing transport emissions, the Blair government seems determined to increase them. At the same time as calling for a new debate about nuclear power, apparently as a way to reduce greenhouse emissions [4], Tony Blair's government is building up a roads programme of more than 200 new road schemes, which will massively increase traffic and CO2 emissions [5]. As Tony Blair made a pro-nuclear speech at the CBI conference today, MPs held a seminar at the House of Commons to question whether business lobby groups such as the CBI are a barrier to environmental policy making [6].

Rebecca Lush of Road Block said:

"Nuclear power is an incredibly expensive white elephant: if Tony Blair is serious about tackling climate change, the best thing he can do is look at reversing emissions from transport, the fastest-growing source of greenhouse-gas emissions. It doesn't matter how many nuclear power stations Blair builds: as long as his government ducks the issue on transport and builds more new roads, CO2 emissions will continue to rise."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

(1) For a breakdown of where Britain's power comes from, see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456932/html/nn5page1.stm

(2) Statistics from Defra: Summary report of UK greenhouse gas inventory by IPCC sources, 2003, Table 3
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/globatmos/gagccukem.htm#gatb3

(3) National Statistics, Greenhouse gas emissions 1990-2003:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=901

(4) Blair says nuclear choice is needed, BBC News, 22 November 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4458970.stm

(5) For a full list of road schemes currently planned or proposed, see:
http://www.roadblock.org.uk/roadschemes.htm

(6) Friends of the Earth press release: MPs question business lobby's influence on environment policy
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/mps_question_business_lobb_25112005.html