Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program not economical: says US panel commissioned by Bush… Common sense prevails… briefly

“We have just seen extraordinary findings in a report commissioned by the Bush government saying the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) is premature, based on unproven technology and not economically viable,” said ANAWA spokesperson Nicola Paris.
“Of course, they go on to call for further subsidies for the US Nuclear power program which we disagree with. But this is where it is interesting… if a United States government panel is saying that GNEP is uneconomical, in comparison to the heavily subsidised nuclear industry then they must be on dangerous ground indeed.

“GNEP was supposed to be the silver bullet that saved the world from the dangers of proliferation, magically fixed up the entrenched problem of nuclear waste and kept the US in control of the world’s nuclear fuel cycle. And yet, here we have the US government essentially finding that they haven’t done their own homework.

“We were quietly signed up to this agreement in September by John Howard who has failed to bring up nuclear issues this election at all. It would be very interesting to hear Howard’s comments on these findings.

“We are also calling on the ALP to detail their commitment to withdrawing from GNEP, given they do not support enrichment, or nuclear power in Australia”, concluded Ms Paris.

Nicola Paris can be contacted on 0422 99 00 40.

www.votenuclearfree.net 

“In many countries throughout the world, the build-up of spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste presents not only an environmental concern, but also requires significant resources to maintain the necessary security and international safeguards,” stated Dennis R. Spurgeon, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy in USA Department of Energy announcement on GNEP. 8 September, 2007