The return of nuclear power is not going to be smooth. Governments in the UK and US are bracing themselves for legal battles that could hamper their plans to generate more electricity from nuclear reactors.
The UK government鈥檚 nuclear programme 鈥� expected to be announced this week 鈥� has come in for heavy criticism in a report by 17 academics. Public consultations relied on 鈥減reordained solutions based on problematic information鈥�, says lead author Paul Dorfman of the University of Warwick. 鈥淭he government has an insufficient democratic mandate for nuclear new build in the UK.鈥� Greenpeace, which took legal action last year to force the government to rerun the consultations, is now considering returning to court.
In the US, a coalition of anti-nuclear groups has filed a petition aiming to prevent the government鈥檚 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from extending the operating life of reactors. The groups claim that safety reviews drawn up by NRC staff routinely include chunks of text 鈥渃ut and pasted鈥� from reactor operators鈥� literature. The NRC insists that its staff make conclusions by 鈥渋ndependent, objective review鈥�.
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