In 2004 Andrew Brown, Gordon Brown's
brother, was hired by the world's largest nuclear power provider, Electricite
de France (EDF), as head of media relations. In 2008, EDF bought British Energy
and its eight old nuclear power stations. In 2010, the nuclear industry
worldwide peaked, before beginning its rapid decline to the present level, the
same as 10 years ago. EDF's shares began their downward slide and the prospect
of them being allowed to build any more new nuclear power plants in France
looked less and less likely. In 2011, as their share value continued to
plummet, EDF formed a stakeholder advisory panel, employing Chris Patten, chair
of the BBC Trust, as chair of the panel and Diane Coyle, vice chair of the BBC
Trust, as a member the panel. She is married to BBC News Technology
Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones. Other members of the panel include Will
Hutton, former editor of the Observer and a leading commentator on social and
political affairs, and Sir Richard Lambert, former director of the CBI and
former editor of the Financial Times. Chris Patten is linked to David Cameron
through Patten's former chief of staff, who is now chief of staff to Cameron.
The British public have been
subjected to a barrage of pro-nuclear publicity, including mantras such as
'Nuclear is carbon free' and 'We need nuclear to keep the lights on'. But the
cost of nuclear new-build has risen exponentially over the past decade, and EDF
has now lost 85% of its share value while the cost of many forms of renewable
energy has fallen and continues to fall.
EDF has been promised numerous
Government subsidies to help cover the costs of nuclear new build, while
Hitachi, who were responsible for the design of the Fukushima reactors and
bought the land adjacent to the old Oldbury nuclear power plant, are watching
with interest to see how much taxpayer money they can rely on. Do we really
want to allow Hitachi to build a new nuclear power plant at Oldbury?
Angela Paine
Together with Nadine Smykatz-Kloss
and John Marjoram, Angela has organised two talks on aspects of nuclear energy.
The dates for your diary are:
Thursday, 26th
September: John Large will talk about radioactive waste and threats to
Gloucestershire.
Wednesday, 30th
October: Roger Moody will talk about the devastating environmental impact of
uranium mining and ask whether nuclear power really is carbon neutral
Both talks will take place in the Old Town Hall in
Stroud, from 7.30 till 9.30pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment