Britain's Nuclear Cover-Up
Last edited Mon Oct 10, 2016, 10:03 PM - Edit history (1)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/opinion/britains-nuclear-cover-up.html
Britains Nuclear Cover-Up
By PETER WYNN KIRBY
OCT. 10, 2016
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Hinkley ... only makes sense if one considers its connection to Britains military projects ...
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A painstaking study of obscure British military policy documents, released last month by the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex, demonstrates that the government and some of its partners in the defense industry, like Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, think a robust civilian nuclear industry is essential to revamping Britains nuclear submarine program.
For proponents of Trident, civilian nuclear projects are a way of masking the high costs of developing a new fleet of nuclear submarines, according to the report. Merging programs like research and development or skills training across civilian and military sectors helps cut back on military spending. It also helps maintain the talent pool for nuclear specialists. And given the long lead times and life spans of most nuclear projects, connections between civilian and military programs give companies more incentives to make the major investments required.
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Hiding the true costs of a project like Trident by promoting a questionable and ruinous project like Hinkley Point C distorts the economics of both the defense and the civilian energy sectors. It also skews energy policy itself.
If Britains energy policy were solely about energy, rather than also about defense, the nuclear sector would be forced to stand on its own two feet. And the government would have to acknowledge the growing benefits of renewable energy and make hard-nosed comparisons about cost, implementation, environmental benefits and safety.
Britains defense policy should not be allowed to undermine the countrys energy policy: That, too, is about national security.
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Peter Wynn Kirby is a nuclear and environmental specialist at the University of Oxford.