COME CLEAN, DON'T GO NUCLEAR

East Kent Green Party is disturbed by reports that both the Labour and Conservative parties are contemplating a new generation of nuclear power stations (1). Dr Hazel Dawe, Campaigns Officer, comments:

"No new nuclear power stations have been commissioned in Britain for 22 years. This is because nuclear power is too expensive when its full costs are taken into account: keeping nuclear waste for 250,000 years makes the nuclear generation of electricity fantastically expensive. It is absolutely clear that renewable energy can meet all existing and conceivable needs (2). It is abundantly clear that work by the Kent Energy Centre demonstrates that improved energy conservation and renewable energy can cut pollution, combat global warming and create useful employment throughout the County (3).

"Rather than embracing the opportunities to create useful employment and protect the environment, key figures in the Labour and Conservative parties seem determined to re-open the 'Pandora's Box' of nuclear energy. The British nuclear industry has to be subsidised at a rate of £2 million a week to keep it from bankruptcy. The Green Party's Alternative Energy Review (4) stresses the economic and environmental advantages of moving away from nuclear power and the use of fossil fuels. The current building of a windfarm at Kentish Flats off Whitstable, another offshore wind farm off Margate and the proposed wind farm for Romney Marsh indicate how rapidly wind power can be developed, and how far behind the times the two major parties seem to be. The Green Party urges people to write to Tony Blair and Michael Howard to encourage them to reject the nuclear option." ENDS c274 words