Energy Bill

The source is absolutely impeccable. The truth is that one can touch on only a few items in eight minutes. The risks of nuclear proliferation and of cancer and leukaemia clusters around nuclear power stations—of course, that is much disputed—are present, but I do not have time to deal with them. However, I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point. Fourthly, the Government made the case in the consultation that the waste problem was manageable, but that is really pushing it. There are already 10,000 tonnes of long-life radioactive toxic waste in this country. According to the Government's figures, there will be 500,000 tonnes by the end of the century. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management still has not come up with any solution. In fact, there has been no progress at all since the last Conservative Government finally abandoned the search for a nuclear dump in 1997. Where will the waste go? Let us not forget that that was one of the criticisms in the previous High Court ruling. The industry makes the case that the quantities of waste will be considerably less this time. I am sure that that is true, but it is not the point. That waste will still be additional to the existing overload and, given the design, it will be more radioactive and hotter, which will make it more difficult to manage. The waste problem has not been solved. Regrettably, there is no movement towards a solution.