Opposition to Nuclear Power

That the Parliament regrets the UK Government’s historical reluctance over the last 20 years to invest in renewable energy; further regrets that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has already admitted that it will not achieve its 10% renewable energy target by 2010 and notes the progress that the Scottish Executive has made towards meeting its renewables target; regrets even more that the Prime Minister is supporting nuclear power, while the DTI has admitted that questions of finance, government support, market mechanisms, public support and storage of radioactive waste are all still unanswered; believes that efforts to present nuclear power as the solution to climate change are significantly undermined by the fact that electricity generation contributes less than a third of greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland; supports the Executive in its efforts to promote renewable energy, and calls on the UK Government to work on realistic approaches to cutting carbon emissions, rather than pretending that a discredited nuclear power industry can make a significant contribution.