Campaigners opposed to the new Sizewell C nuclear power station have slammed the 'nonsense' decision by chancellor Jeremy Hunt to classify the project as 'environmentally sustainable' in the budget.
On Wednesday, Mr Hunt announced in his spring budget that nuclear energy would be given the classification to give it the same access to investment incentives as renewables.
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He said the Government will launch a 'Great British Nuclear (GBN)' scheme to 'bring down costs' and 'provide opportunities' in the supply chain with a view to nuclear power providing 25% of the UK's electricity generation by 2050.
But a spokesperson for Stop Sizewell C said the decision made a 'nonsense of the science, given the major issue of radioactive waste'.
She added: "In any case this seems unlikely to sway wary UK investors, for despite government support, Sizewell C is not expected to reach a Final Investment Decision for two years - if ever - and remains a risky project with a flawed reactor design.
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"There's woefully little information about Great British Nuclear, or its financial clout, but the UK government's recent affirmation of how intertwined civil and defence 'nuclear enterprises' are and commitment to align these raises serious questions about GBN's role and the government's previously unspoken motivations behind its civil nuclear ambitions."
Mr Hunt also repeated the pledge made in the autumn to invest £700 million in Sizewell C, while launching a competition for small modular reactors, which will be funded if the technology proved to be viable.
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However, nuclear experts, including Prof Adrian Bull, of the Dalton Nuclear Institute at the University of Manchester, said that while the chancellor's announcement was 'positive,' GBN had been mooted previously and he wanted to see it actually 'come into being'.
The Sizewell C project is expected to cost £25bn and will provide a twin reactor that is expected to provide power for six million homes.
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