THE GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO GO NUCLEAR

Since 2005, amid the more widely documented fact that the UK has a serious energy crisis, a collection of newly hired public relation agencies have been working together to position nuclear as the new solution, therefore nuclear has been brought back to the table as a sufficient new energy supply and a way to reduce carbon emissions without dealing with the existing problems of waste, leakage etc. The only difference now that there is a marketing strategy behind it.

A carefully planned public relations strategy is forcing nuclear power back onto the political agenda. British Energy, the UK´s only private nuclear operator that avoided bankruptcy in 2003 via a multimillion pound Government loan and a public bailout package worth £4bn, have appointed Monsanto's former top UK lobbyist, enlisted the help of a former energy minister and paid £1m to a PR firm. (Greenpeace)

Meanwhile the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (the Government´s new body responsible for clean up and decommissioning of existing nuclear sites) poached the former Head of Communications for Heathrow Airport. He has nine press officers to assist him with his latest PR challenge. (Greenpeace)

NIREX, the body which identifies UK sites to dump our nuclear waste, has also been busy looking to clean up its image. It now boasts two PR firms contracted to undertake a re-branding exercise. (Greenpeace)

Not to be outdone, the UK Atomic Energy Authority has also found itself a firm of PR consultants. (Greenpeace)

From the beginning of this year, all these groups have been working together to exploit the fears of Government and industry over security of the UK´s energy supply and carbon reduction targets and positioning nuclear as the brand new solution in the media. (Greenpeace)

The nuclear industry has thus dressed up the same technology that the last energy review rejected and told us we need it all over again. All the problems of nuclear power remain. The only thing that has changed is the quality of the marketing. (Greenpeace)

No new nuclear power station will generate a single watt of electricity before 2018, so it can play no role in solving our immediate energy supply problems. (Greenpeace)