SOUTH Down MP Margaret Ritchie MP has has expressed her concern about the UK nuclear policy saying that the most recent problems reported from Fukushima show the risks posed if the UK pushes ahead with the new nuclear program.
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The scene at the Fukushima nuclear reactor that caused an international nuclear pollution alert.[/caption]Ms Ritchie said:xa0“While the UK government may find it convenient that the Fukushima nuclear disaster is no longer a main issue in the media, xa0the latest reports indicate that the plant is experiencing on-going safety issues with steam being emitted from the reactor and the operators admitting that contaminated waste is being released into the sea.
“It also appears that engineers are unaware exactly what is happening to the reactor to cause these problems. This makes it all the more worrying that the UK government were so persistent in their attempts to have the new waste storage facility located near the coast in West Cumbria, a move which was thankfully stopped by the local council.
“As always the safety dangers and true cost of nuclear power are downplayed by governments and energy companies. The UK government seem determined to push on with the new nuclear build programme with a guaranteed strike price for energy companies that amounts to yet another subsidy for the nuclear industry.
“My constituents have had to live in the shadow of the Sellafield plant for a generation and it is unacceptable for them or for people in Britain to have to put up with another ticking time bomb on their doorstep. Fukushima shows that nuclear is never one hundred per cent safe and the government only needs to see what happened in Japan as a stark reminder of this danger.”
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