Energy Review (UK 2006)

This article is part of a series on the 2005-2006 national debate on nuclear power in the UK

Energy Review (UK 2006) "Our Energy Challenge" British Nuclear Energy Society British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) Civil Nuclear Industry Scottish CPG Nirex Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Nuclear Energy APPG Nuclear Industry Association Supporters of Nuclear Energy (SONE)

For more articles on this topic, see the NuclearSpin website

The 2006 UK Energy Review was launched on Monday 23rd January [1].

The establishment of the review was announced on November 29, 2005. It is being led by Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks [2]. Wicks has said the review will make its recommendations sometime in the summer [3].

At the start of the review, a consultation document called Our Energy Challenge was published. According to The Guardian, this "sets out five key questions that the energy review [Wicks] chairs will consider" [4].

Background to the review

The review was preceded by sustained and intensive lobbying by the nuclear industry, beginning in 2004. In October 2004, British Energy appointed Craig Stevenson, formerly Monsanto's top UK lobbyist, as head of government affairs [5]. And in early 2005, Jon Phillips, who helped BAA promote Heathrow's Terminal 5 and who a former colleague describes as "a bit of a bruiser", joined the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) [6]. The same year, leading journalists were wined and dined by both British Energy and Amec [7].

In August 2005, BNFL paid 'accommodation' costs for Scottish MSPs in the Civil Nuclear Industry Scottish CPG to visit the reprocessing plant at Sellafield. However, the CPG found itself in the spotlight the day before the launch of the review when the Sunday Herald revealed it had failed to register the accommodation as a financial benefit. [8] The CPG's response to the Herald's enquiries was swift - it erased the name of BNFL lobbyist Thomas Docherty from its website [9] [10].

The NDA, which one critic argues has been set up to charge for a job that the British public has already paid for [11], also came under scrutiny for its PR-related activities. Bell Pottinger Public Affairs was revealed by Private Eye magazine to have supplied the organization with profiles of the Commons trade and industry select committee, which oversees it. The profiles focussed on the attitudes of the MPs to nuclear energy - a curious emphasis given that the NDA's remit is to decommission existing nuclear power stations. [12]

For a fuller chronology of the nuclear lobbying leading up to the review, see the UK national debate on nuclear power article.

The review was condemned by green groups as an attempt to overturn the conclusions of the 2003 Energy White Paper, which had recommended an expansion in renewable energy, and improved energy efficiency.

SourceWatch resources

• Civil Nuclear Industry Scottish CPG
• Jon Phillips
• National debate on nuclear power (UK 2005-2006)
• Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)
• Our Energy Challenge: securing clean, affordable energy for the long term
• Thomas Docherty

External links

• Official homepage of the energy review.

Press releases

• "Energy Review must address 2020 ‘do nothing’ scenario", press release, Department of Trade and Industry, November 20, 2005.
• "Announcement of Energy Review", press release, Department of Trade and Industry, November 29, 2005.

Articles

• Sally Priestley, "UK over-dependent on gas, says Balls", ePolitix.com, January 20, 2006.
• Paul Hutcheon, "Sleaze probe into nuclear lobbying at Holyrood", Sunday Herald, January 22, 2006.
• Terry Macalister and Patrick Wintour, "No obstacles to atomic option, says 'nuclear neutral' energy minister", The Guardian, January 23, 2006.
• Daniel Forman, "Government to reopen nuclear debate", ePolitix.com, January 23, 2006.
• "Green lobby girds for nuclear battle over energy", Reuters, January 23, 2006.