A cow grazes next to Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a sweeping review of Britain's energy needs that will specifically look into the option of building new nuclear power stations.(AFP/File/Odd Andersen)
Posted on 11/29/2005 12:13:39 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday the government may consider building a new generation of nuclear power stations, in a speech delayed briefly by anti-nuclear activists.
"The issue back on the agenda with a vengeance is energy policy," Blair told the Confederation of British Industry. "Energy prices have risen. Energy supply is under threat. Climate change is producing a sense of urgency."
Nuclear power currently provides one-fifth of Britain's electricity, but the nation's 12 nuclear power plants are aging and unless replaced will provide just 4 percent by 2010.
A government policy paper on energy resources will be issued next summer and will address the possibility of a new generation of power stations that could provide enough nuclear energy for the country, Blair said.
"In Britain, on any basis, we also have the issue of our transition from being self-sufficient in gas supply to being an importer," he said.
Shortly before his speech, two Greenpeace activists using safety harnesses climbed into the rafters of the conference venue in Islington, in north London, and unfurled a banner reading: "Nuclear: wrong answer."
Dressed in suits and ties, the pair also sprinkled hundreds of yellow stickers bearing the same slogan onto delegates below.
Conference organizers said Greenpeace offered to end the protest in exchange for 10 minutes to speak to Blair. Digby Jones, director general for the industry group, rejected the request.
Security staff cleared the hall of delegates and Blair instead spoke in a cramped room where participants and the press had to stand. The activists — who had had security passes — were detained on suspicion of aggravated trespassing, police said.
"We don't need a new generation of nuclear reactors," said Emma Gibson of Greenpeace. "It's unsafe, uneconomic and a terrorist threat."
A cow grazes next to Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a sweeping review of Britain's energy needs that will specifically look into the option of building new nuclear power stations.(AFP/File/Odd Andersen)
good news bump
A Greenpeace protestor scales the roof at the Business Design Centre in London. Anti-nuclear protesters scaled the roof of a conference centre in London where Prime Minister Tony Blair was to launch a sweeping review of Britain's energy policy.(AFP/Odd Andersen)
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves after speaking at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference in London November 29, 2005. Blair, charged with negotiating a deal on a new European Union budget, said on Tuesday Britain would not relinquish its rebate from EU coffers without serious reform of the bloc's farm subsidies. REUTERS/Stephen Hird
That little thing constitutes a "banner".
Drop the little punks behind in the artic with nothing but the clothes on his back. Tell him to keep warm on his own.
Develop a sufficient technical and economic basis for this type of reactor plant to determine whether it can compete with natural gas and still meet safety, proliferation resistance and waste disposal concerns.
Many believe that HTGRs are not credible due to past failures. Our work is meant to turn that belief around with substantive analysis. If successful, propose building a reactor research facility to license by test, explore different fuel cycles, process heat applications, and advanced control system design, helium gas turbines and other components. (Within five years!)
Very cool stuff! Thanks!
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