Nuclear power: you can’t make it lovable

Nuala Moran

In common with countries worldwide, the UK is scrabbling to ensure long term energy security. The government wants to build new nuclear power stations, seeing this as the easiest route to keeping the lights on and cutting carbon emissions.

But whatever its concerns about climate change, the British public is not about to fall into the nuclear embrace. Now the government has launched a national consultation exercise win them over.

Consultation programme

A series of twelve regional events is being held over the summer to capture the views of green groups, energy companies, businesses, consumer groups, unions, faith groups and academics.

In addition, a representative sample of 1,100 UK citizens will debate the issues at nine simultaneous meetings in cities across the country on 9 September.

The exercise will not stop at meetings and debates. A consultation document, The Future of Nuclear Power, sets out the range of issues relating to nuclear power and asks for responses to 18 key questions by 10 October. The document has been published on an interactive website, and more than 550 responses have been received to date.

There will also be a series of meetings to get the views of those who live near existing nuclear power stations, and ministers will host roundtable events in September to hear from leaders of business, investors, unions and environmental groups.

The exercise has been publicised through direct mail and an ad campaign in the national and regional newspapers.

“This is a big decision with consequences either way. It’s critical that we listen to all the views and get it right,” said the energy minister Malcolm Wickes, speaking at the first event in Newcastle.

Wickes noted also that the recent Energy White Paper sets out a range of responses to the challenge of ensuring energy security, including increasing energy efficiency, carbon capture and storage, and more renewable generation such as offshore wind farms.

Funny then, that the public is not being consulted on these.

While it is obviously the case that the public should be consulted, such exercises amount to little more than an attempt to mould opinion.  While the government will not formally announce its decision until later this year, it has already made up its mind, and the objective of the exercise is to get the public to agree.

No guarantees

The cynical – or maybe naïve - thinking is that all it has to do is fill the science ignorance gap and the public will then see the government is right.

It shouldn’t bank on this. In October 2003 genetically modified crops received the thumbs-down from the British public following a similar national debate that aimed to swing opinion in their favour.

The government believed that if people were better informed about GM crops they would support adoption of the technology but, in fact, the opposite happened.

So don’t be surprised to find that the more informed they are, the less the public likes nuclear power.