GOVERNMENT NUCLEAR POLICY IN SHAMBLES AS KEY ADVISOR REVEALS FLAWS

SNP Westminster Energy Spokesperson, Mike Weir MP, has today (Monday) seized upon comments by senior UK Government adviser, Dieter Helm, criticising the UK Government’s nuclear energy policy as being fundamentally flawed as it relies on the “fiction” that a new generation of reactors can be built without state support.

Professor Helm, who has helped shape energy policy for the past decade, confirmed that “There never has been and never will be a nuclear power programme that is totally dependent on the market.” Helm also criticised the “fig-leaf” approach the UK Ministers had taken, and urged the Government to take a long-term approach.

Mr Weir said:

“Professor Helm has blown the whistle on the UK Government’s flawed nuclear plans, exposing the true uncertainty and risk of Labour’s nuclear obsession.

“Claims by UK Ministers that there would not be any public subsidy for new nuclear stations are clearly fantasy. No country has developed and maintained nuclear stations without state support, nor ever will.

“The costs associated with developing new nuclear stations are enormous, and the costs and risks associated with disposal are incalculable.
Professor Helm’s intervention is an explicit warning on the folly of Labour’s nuclear ambitions, and Westminster needs to wake-up to this.

“Thank goodness we have an SNP Government in Scotland that will not allow any new nuclear stations on our soil.”