World News Today: Huhne to chair UK nuclear meeting

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Huhne to chair UK nuclear meeting

Chris Huhne has said a review will establish whether back-up systems at nuclear plants are up to scratch

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and senior representatives of the UK nuclear industry are set to discuss the crisis in Japan at a meeting on Thursday.

Mr Huhne will chair a meeting of the Nuclear Development Forum - a body set up in 2008 to facilitate discussions over the UK's future nuclear expansion.

Chief Nuclear Inspector Dr Mike Weightman, who is reviewing the safety of UK plants, will also attend.

Mr Huhne has warned people not to "rush to judgement" about his findings.

The meeting comes as the Japanese authorities battle to gain control of the situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant following Friday's earthquake and tsunami - which have led to explosions at three of its reactors and levels of radiation leaks considered harmful to local people.

The energy secretary ordered a review of safety procedures in the UK on Monday, saying he was confident they were "robust" but ministers should not be "complacent". He urged people to await Dr Weightman's findings and not jump to conclusions about what the crisis in Japan might mean for existing reactors and plans to replace the bulk of them by 2025.

Thursday's meeting of the Nuclear Development Forum was scheduled before the crisis in Japan but the issue is likely to dominate proceedings.

The organisation was established in 2008 by the last Labour government to facilitate "high level" contact between ministers, operators of nuclear facilities and potential investors in future plants and to "secure the long-term future" of nuclear power.

The crisis in Japan has prompted the European Union to call for all plants in its member states to be "stress tested" for their safety. In response, Germany has temporarily shut down a number of its older plants while China is reviewing its ambitious future expansion plans.

David Cameron has made it clear that the UK is not prone to seismic activity of the kind seen in Japan and its plants do not use the same technology but has said the nuclear industry must "learn lessons" from what happened in Japan.

All but one of the UK's existing nuclear plants are scheduled to close by 2023 and eight locations have been shortlisted for replacements.

A handful of MPs have said ministers should reconsider the plans although most are still in favour of pressing ahead. Tory and Labour MPs on the Energy Select Committee have called on Mr Huhne to do more to allay public fears about nuclear safety and to remind people of the industry's good safety record.

The nuclear industry insists safety controls already in place are "stringent", that existing plants are built to withstand "credible seismic scenarios" and it is "confident" about the future of nuclear in the UK.

But environmental campaigners have argued that events in Japan demonstrate that nuclear power can never be truly safe.

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