TNAG-1498-FCO40-2056-Guangdong-nuclear-power-station-project-at-Daya-Bay-safety-c-1986 — Page 88

The

maintenance of those living standards would be impossible. The decision to eradicate nuclear energy is not a minor decision. availability of world energy supplies makes it clear that only nuclear energy can meet the pressing needs of the coming decades.

There

We should and will seek other alternatives and additional sources.

Research and development work must continue. Britain will press for

greater international collaboration in the search for safe and

reliable forms of energy to meet the future needs of mankind.

are no alternatives that are likely to be available within the near future. There is a pressing need for improved energy efficiency. We are currently taking the lead in western Europe and are doing

more than any other nation in the world. We will seek a further

European campaign and international collaboration in research to diminish the need for energy by improved efficiency. We will need to spend in this country £20-£30 billion worth of new investment in

order to reduce our energy requirements by 20%. This should and

must be done, but the totality of what is available from alternative

energy and from improved efficiency does not begin to meet the

increased demand for energy and the reduction in finite resources of

energy that is going to take place.

We will seek international collaboration in the application of new

skills to operate nuclear power as a source of energy safer than any

other form of energy known to man.

Britain has the technical, engineering and scientific skills to do

this. We must see that there is international collaboration in all

safety developments, we must see that there is an international

standard for inspection of all nuclear plants. There must be stringent international standards for dealing with incidents no

matter how minor. Britain will continue to press for the

International Atomic Energy Agency to have the resources to achieve

these objectives.

If the skill of the human race secures safe nuclear energy we will

have a form of energy that is environmentally better than any other form of energy known to man. Energy that will not pollute the air

that we breathe as other fuels have always polluted our air. It

will be the most economic form of energy yet known to man. It will

be the most transferrable form of energy yet known to man,

transferred to countries with large populations in need of energy.

12