The announcement today by President Xi Jinping to invest in the construction of a nuclear reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset lacks detail.
Greens are concerned that there is no accompanying announcement defining what will be done with the radioactive waste created at the plant. The UK government had hoped to store nuclear waste underground in Cumbria, but an outcry from residents caused the Council to reject this plan. There remains no solution to the storage of nuclear waste.
Pippa Bartolotti, Wales Green Party leader said, ”Hinkley C, on the coast of North Somerset is just 20 miles from Barry in South Wales. Volatile radioactive waste will be stored at this site indefinitely. It is a violation of natural law to create a process which produces a waste product so toxic that it remains a dangerous legacy for 50 generations and more.
“If it was not for the vile side product of nuclear weapons, this process would never have been condoned in the first place."
Last year Chinese investments in the UK totalled $8bn. This year it has been just $1.8bn. The Green Party is concerned that this nuclear deal is a blind grab at investment for investment’s sake, and has not been properly thought through.
Bartolotti added, “It is frightening enough that we are being locked into a form of energy which is not sustainable, but the emerging financial picture is almost as bad. Ordinary households are going to have to pay more than twice the market price for nuclear energy, and that’s just the beginning. No decommissioning costs have been factored into this deal. It is expected that once again the taxpayer will foot the bill for the billions of pounds needed to make the site safe at the end of its 30 year life.
“Chancellor Osborne has panicked. His track record on the economy is not good, and he is losing his nerve as Chinese investments in the UK shrink. Osborne is prepared to trade the human rights of thousands of political prisoners, and the safety of millions of Britons, for a few billion pounds.”