Nuke power debate hots up

On 29 November, Tony Blair's planned pro-nuclear speech at the CBI con-ference was delayed for 45 minutes after being disrupted by Greenpeace activists. Two Greenpeace climbers scaled the ceiling beams above the speakers' podium, held banners saying “Nuclear - wrong answer” and then released “radioactive” confetti. A Scotland Yard spokesman later confirmed that two men had been arrested. Blair's speech described his new energy plan, with a new energy policy expected in 2006, which “will include specifically the issue of whether we facilitate the development of a new generation of nuclear power stations”. Stephen Tindale, Director of Greenpeace UK, said, “Today Blair is trying to launch a new nuclear age and we are here to stop him. Nuclear power is not the answer to climate change - it's costly, dangerous and a terrorist target. Today's new review is simply a smokescreen for pushing his new found enthusiasm for nuclear power.”