Seanad debates
Thursday, 27 November 2003
Address by Ms Nuala Ahern, MEP.
I have much respect for my colleague, Deputy O'Dowd, who is interested in the Sellafield issue. The nuclear industry will only be driven out of business by some type of economic sanction. It is a nightmare economically. The UK Government has spent the past year pumping millions of pounds into the nuclear industry. It is a black hole. I have demonstrated that on my website which shows an analysis I did of BNFL's accounts in 2001. The Minister responsible subsequently admitted that BNFL was technically bankrupt. It needs to hive off the liabilities from BNFL as a semi-private company and try to deal with them. That is why the EURATOM Treaty is important. The only legal basis it has for giving such large amounts of state aid is that treaty, which should be taken from it. Nuclear power is incredibly expensive. We should create an infrastructure to deal with renewable energies, which would be a better way forward. In the medium term there is plenty of gas, which is currently the fuel of choice – more gas power stations are being built than any other kind. It is an intermediate fuel and we have been making the environmental argument for years. There is a strong economic argument for its use and it is simply nonsense to say otherwise.
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