Nuclear Power — Not competitive — rejected — 22 Oct 2002 at 21:50

The majority of MPs voted against the motion:^[1]

• This House
• notes with concern the decision of the Government to put at risk over £600 million of public funds in order to prevent the bankruptcy of the privatised nuclear power company British Energy;
• further notes that several competitor companies in the deregulated market also face financial collapse and that some are petitioning for Government assistance;
• believes that nuclear power has been shown in a competitive market to be uneconomic as well as to generate long-term environmental costs in respect of waste disposal and decommissioning;
• further believes that it would be wrong for the Government to continue to bail out British Energy shareholders with a massive unplanned injection of public money or encourage new nuclear power projects; and
• calls on Her Majesty's Government urgently to bring forward its response to the PIU energy review,^[2] with measures to initiate a sustained long-term improvement in energy efficiency and conservation, and to facilitate the more rapid introduction of a variety of new renewable energy technologies as the favoured electricity generating source in the long-term, taking into account the Government's Kyoto targets and the Prime Minister's support for sustainable energy use at Johannesburg.

An alternative motion was put in its place and voted through.^[3]

• [1] Vincent Cable MP, House of Commons, 22 October 2002
• [2] Energy Review, Performance and Innovation Unit, February 2002
• [3] Nuclear Power - Will be addressed on its own merits, House of Commons, 22 October 2002

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | Source |