Context
There are large variations in peoples’ understanding of the issues surrounding nuclear power, including the technology itself, climate change, and energy security. There is a wide spectrum of views and concerns over nuclear power and it remains a controversial area of public policy. Nuclear power currently provides around 20% of the UK’s electricity.
The UK also has nuclear weapons in the form of Trident missiles which are located on a fleet of submarines, and the funding and deployment of these weapons has also been widely debated.
On 18 October 2010 the British government announced eight locations it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations. This has resulted in public opposition and protests at some of the sites. In March 2012, two of the big six power companies announced they would be pulling out of developing new nuclear power plants. The decision by RWE npower and E.ON follows uncertainty over nuclear energy following the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. The companies will not proceed with their Horizon project, which was to develop nuclear reactors at Wylfa in North Wales and at Oldbury-on-Severn in Gloucestershire. Their decision follows a similar announcement by Scottish and Southern Electricity last year. Analysts said the decision meant the future of UK nuclear power could now be in doubt.
In May 2012, a new government report showed that, in England and Wales, hundreds of sites could be contaminated with radioactive waste from old military bases, factories, and old planes. This figure is far higher than previous official estimates.
Read more about this topic: Anti-nuclear Movement In The United Kingdom
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