Green MEP Jean Lambert has today warned that there is no point in planning for nuclear power plants, outlined in the Government’s Energy White Paper, as they will be unable to operate and will be forced to break environmental laws if the climate crisis continues at the current rate.

Jean Lambert, who is Green MEP for London, commented; ”Nuclear power plants source enormous amounts of cool water from rivers and reservoirs to keep operations at safe temperatures. With soaring global temperatures however, the water will simply be too warm to use, leaving power stations with little choice but to restrict output or fall foul of environmental practice.

“The past few years have seen large numbers of nuclear power plants across Europe operating at reduced capacity or brought to a complete halt because of the hot summers.  With the impending climate crisis this looks set to continue bringing energy production to a standstill.

“Being a particular issue for London and the South-East region, we already know that water is in short supply, not only affecting our everyday lives but seriously damaging plant and fish life as well.  Dumping gallons of hot, waste water into rivers and evaporating even larger amounts is completely unacceptable. The UK Government can not claim that they want to protect the planet and then make preparations to destroy it at the same time.

“With the use of wind power at sea alone the UK could meet its electricity needs three times over. It therefore makes more sense to capture tide and wind power than to build nuclear power stations with their feet in the water.  Given that climate change is a historic problem we shouldn’t even be thinking about leaving the problem of nuclear waste to future generations.  The Government must reject the nuclear power strategy immediately.”

ENDS