To mark the anniversary of the 1957 Windscale fire in Cumbria, two protest groups have awarded a ‘tainted’ prize to a rebranded nuclear plant in Lancashire.
The Capenhurst Campaign and Radiation Free Lakeland have named the first George Monbiot Award winner as the Springfields Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing plant.
The award is named after George Monbiot, the influential journalist, who they think “very mistakenly believes” that nuclear power is the solution to the global climate change crisis.
A spokesman for the two groups says: “Mining, transporting, and processing of uranium increases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, as does the use of vast amounts of concrete used in the building of nuclear reactors.
“This is before all of the energy used and CO2 created in processing or storing all of the highly radioactive waste after these reactors have been supposedly ‘decommissioned’.
“The Springfields Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing plant operated by Westinghouse is at the beginning of the process.
“Springfields has rebranded itself as a ‘clean energy technology park’. The nuclear industry is increasingly promoting itself as ‘clean’ and ‘renewable’. George Monbiot has played a key part in facilitating this rebrand.”
They say the award itself is a tarnished gold coloured cup, made in low quality plastic, symbolising the ecologically damaging nature of the nuclear industry.
The spokesman added: “Each year the cup will be awarded to other parts of the industry in order to highlight the irreparable damage they are doing.”
