Adding her name to a submission made by scientists from University College London, Ms Lambert said the payment would distort the European energy sector and make it harder to invest in cleaner, safer, renewable energy in future.

“The proposed subsidy would breach EU law,” she said, “and, as governments around the world are realising in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, would be promoting a dirty, unsafe energy technology at the expense of the renewable and community-level solutions we need to combat climate change and keep the lights on.”

Ms Lambert made her comments as more than 100 academics and politicians of all parties – including a number of Greens – responded to a European Commission consultation on the proposed funding of new nuclear power stations in the UK.

The full consultation response is available here:

Hinkley Point: State Aid consultation response – April 2014

The post Taxpayer subsidy for new nuclear power stations ‘illegal’ under EU law, say Greens appeared first on Jean Lambert MEP.

The response was co-ordinated and drafted by Dr Dr Paul Dorfman of the Energy Institute at University College London.

Download consulation response here

The post Response to European Commission consultation on the legality for state aid to new nuclear power station construction at Hinkley Point, Somerset appeared first on Jean Lambert MEP.

Dear Editor,

Malcolm Grimston’s assertion that the “advantages” of nuclear power are widely recognised in Britain is challenged by the results of a YouGov poll in March which shows a real division in public opinion. 

Maybe the doubters look at the decommissioning costs and wonder why the public purse continues to underwrite the costs of this technology, and question whether the billions would have been better used to develop renewables.

The poll shows that the majority wants more renewable energy, yet government policy is lacking in ambition and marred by inconsistency.  A clear direction is essential for job creation, for the environment and for future generations who must not be saddled with yet another environmental debt.

Jean Lambert
Green MEP for London

The post Letter to Prospect Magazine: Call for renewables appeared first on Jean Lambert MEP.

Download here: European Stress test for Nuclear Power Plants

The post The European ‘Stress Test’ for Nuclear Power Plants appeared first on Jean Lambert MEP.

Commenting on the study findings ahead of the Commission’s presentation, Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London, said:

“The EU nuclear stress tests are nothing more than a charade. The tests will totally fail to address the risks to nuclear power plants in Europe and are little more than a PR exercise to allow the nuclear industry to continue with business as usual. Nobody should be duped by any positive spinning of the results of the stress tests by the European Commission.

“This study makes clear that, based on the criteria to be assessed, the EU stress tests will completely fail to assess risks in core areas that would be essential in terms of preventing nuclear accidents. The tests not only fail to assess the risks posed by critical internal factors – like fires, human failures or the degradation or malfunctioning of essential infrastructure – they also fail to assess the risks of external threats – such as the impact of an airplane crash. Despite their crucial importance, safety management strategies are also excluded from the scope.

“The study does also highlight the gap between the stress tests and the safety standards that national nuclear safety authorities deem necessary for new reactors. Those countries that have decided to phase out nuclear or that have never used it, have to push for highest safety standards in the EU and a European wide phase out of this high risk technology. The most important lesson of the Fukushima catastrophe is that the residual risk of nuclear power cannot be eliminated. Instead of heeding this lesson, the nuclear industry and its political supporters, are seeking to concoct new strategies – including these stress tests – to convince the public that nuclear is a safe and sustainable energy option. Instead of wasting more time, EU policy-makers should be actively planning for the phasing-out of nuclear power.”

In April 2011, Jean, a member of the European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Commitee and a long-term campaigner against nuclear power, was successful in guiding new health and safety measures for nuclear workers through the European Parliament.  The report, authored by Jean, also stipulates greater employment liability to ensure that responsibility for workers’ safety permeates throughout the entire supply chain in order to provide real protection for all contracted and sub-contracted workers who deal with radioactive waste.

The post EU stress tests will do nothing to assuage safety concerns with nuclear reactors, states Green MEP appeared first on Jean Lambert MEP.

“We mark the 66th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs with a disquieting sense of familiarity with the devastating consequences of nuclear technology.  Japan has experienced the horrors of nuclear weapon attacks and is now experiencing the effects of disaster from so-called peaceful nuclear power. The Fukushima power plant, the scene of Japan’s worst civil nuclear accident, has continued to leak highly toxic radioactive waste since it was crippled by an earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11th, resulting in the creation of a 30 kilometre exclusion zone with hundreds of thousands of residents evicted from their homes, the contamination of vital food and water supplies and as yet unknown damage to health. If one damaged reactor can cause so much grief and harm, it isn’t difficult to imagine what absolute havoc would be unleashed on the world as a result of nuclear warfare. We are also seeing UK ex-servicemen still seeking justice for the damage they believe was caused to their health by being present while  British nuclear weapons were tested in the 1950s.

“Nuclear weapons do not make the world a safer place and we must make every peaceful effort to prevent their proliferation and encourage their removal. It is incredible to me that the UK is still  willing to spend millions on the Trident nuclear-weapons programme when we could be leaders in nuclear disarmament. It would give us a moral authority in disarmament negotiations, save money and reduce the threat to our planet. The world has witnessed enough of the horrific realities of living and dying through the effects of nuclear contamination.  On this day, some 66 years since the horrors of Hiroshima and 147 days since Fukushima, we can only hope that, finally, the lessons of the past are being heard.”

Notes to Editor

Hiroshima Day is observed all over the world every year on 6th of August in commemoration of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.  It is estimated that 140,000 people were killed in Hiroshima and 74,000 people in Nagasaki, where the second, bigger bomb was dropped three days later.

The post Statement: Jean calls for nuclear free future appeared first on Jean Lambert MEP.