THE BISHOP of Chelmsford, the Rt Revd John Gladwin, has challenged the Government to comment on issues that may arise “from a set of moral and ethical concerns” after the announcement last week that there would be a new generation of nuclear power stations.
Speaking in a debate in the House of Lords, the Bishop asked the Government whether future energy supplies could be derived from a variety of sources. “Having worked in South Yorkshire, I am very interested in coal. Does the Government have a working view of the contribution to our future energy supplies that might be supplied by different kinds of provision? What is the limit on the nuclear contribution?”
He also questioned the risks associated with nuclear power, particularly the issue of management of waste.
In reply, Lord Jones of Birmingham said that Bishop Gladwin had raised a very valid point, and that in March the Government would issue a call for the justification applications — a process, he said, “that meets the requirements of EU regulation that new nuclear processes should demonstrate that their benefits outweigh any other possible social, health, and ethical detriment”.
On Thursday of last week, members of Christian Ecology Link (CEL) handed over a solar-powered torch and a sample of insulation material at 10 Downing Street, in protest at the announcement on nuclear power.
The items symbolised a non-nuclear future, CEL said. The members also handed over a letter outlining their request for a non-nuclear future, and a copy of Faith and Power, a CEL report that proposes energy reduction and investment in renewable energy forms rather than new nuclear power stations.
Speaking in the House of Commons last week, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, John Hutton, said that nuclear power was a tried and tested technology which had a part to play in this country’s future energy mix, along with other low-carbon sources.
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