Hidden Subsidy for Nuclear Power

by Dr Gerry Wolff

On Radio 4's Today programme on the 7th of September, John Hutton MP, Secretary of State, Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, repeated what the Government has said on previous occasions: that no subsidies would be provided for new nuclear power stations.

But in the UK, as in many other countries around the world, nuclear power enjoys a very large subsidy because it is required to pay only a small fraction of the cost of insuring fully against a Chernobyl-style disaster or worse. Details of the size of this subsidy are given in Helen Caldicott's book "Nuclear power is not the answer" (ISBN-10 1595582134: ISBN-13 978-1-59558-067-2).

If the Government is serious in saying that there would be no subsidies for nuclear power, then it should require the nuclear industry to pay the full cost of insuring against nuclear disasters, without any limitations on liabilities.

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

Tags: High Tech, Politics, top news, Environment

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Hidden Subsidy for Nuclear Power