Crazynomics

The Guardian reports

Having closed down a massively loss-making mixed-oxide fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield, the government amazes Greenpeace by proposing to build a new one

• • The government has astonished the anti-nuclear lobby by outlining plans to spend £3bn of public money building a new mixed-oxide fuel (Mox) plant – months after announcing the closure of a similar facility that lost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.

Energy minister Charles Hendry said Britain could not continue to keep the world's largest civilian stockpile of used plutonium stored at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria. It should be converted into Mox fuel for possible use in a new generation of thermal light water reactors.

In a written statement to MPs, Hendry said the government had gathered enough information to be confident Mox was the right direction and was now "preferred policy".

But he added: "Only when the government is confident that its preferred option could be implemented safely and securely, that it is affordable, deliverable and offers value for money, will it be in a position to proceed with a new Mox plant."

The statement angered green campaigners, who noted that the first Mox plant at Sellafield in Cumbria had been plagued by financial and operating problems. Its original cost was £250m but by 2004 it had cost £600m.

"Despite the failure of the Sellafield Mox plant to produce fuel at the designed throughput, it has nonetheless safely manufactured Mox fuel which has been successfully burned in reactors, it said.

Douglas Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said the government's plans made no sense at a time of squeezed public spending and worries about funding solar and wind plants.

He said: "This is crazynomics – the reality is that the nuclear fairytale is a nuclear nightmare. Having announced the closure of a Mox plant because it was colossally inefficient and because there was no market for its service, the government now wants to build another one that will fast become a hugely expensive white elephant.

"This proposal will lead to a subsidised plant creating subsidised fuel so that subsidised operators can produce subsidised electricity and then receive subsidised waste disposal. The only winners in this are the nuclear operators, already rich with their 18% domestic fuel price rises this year."

The government has been cutting budgets for solar power, triggering a warning from builder Carillion that it expected to lay off 4,500 staff.

Phew! It's all over.

At 9.00 this morning my work on a new book was over.

Yesterday was fraught as frantic last minuter changes were made. The distinguished writer of the foreword was given the daunting task on Monday of reading 75,000 words and writing his foreword of 400 words by last night. At 6.30 the beautifully crafted words were e-mailed to me. I am very grateful.

The book will be launched in the middle of January in suitable parliamentary surroundings. It's written on a similar stucture to Commons Knowledge but it is a longer and more substantial book. Some of the best loved stories have been retained. They are worth re-reading. The main theme is the thrilling world of the new parliament. It is unique and changed utterly by the influence of Speaker Bercow, the Wright reforms and especially the overhang of the expenses scandal.

There are many new sections on How to e-petition, How to Eulogise, How to get it Wright and How to die. Ten commandments were in Commons Knowledge. There are 30 in the new book. As the world of parliament is in constant  turmoil, last minute adjustments are essential. At 9.00 this morning the forward and final version were e-mailed for printing. Ahhhhhh!

The book is dedicated to my friend the late David Taylor MP. I am halfway writing a biography of him whic I hope to complete it in a few months.

For the suspicious I must repeat. As always I will make no money personally from the book. That's one of the strict rules I have urged on  others since 1987. We should live on our handsome wages. Additional money should be redistributed to good causes. The Wales on Sunday  newspaper on at least four occasions whinged abou money they claimed I receieved for the serial rights of my last book. Eventually they apologised.