You may well have missed this bit of news, but at the Green Party of England and Wales's annual conference a motion was passed that effectively removes the party's opposition to nuclear power.
This has rather upset a lot of influential people (and me).
So, Paul Dorfman, who chairs the Nuclear Consulting Group, drafted an open letter, which was published in full in The National. I can't find a digital version so I've copied it below, and you can read Hamish's editorial here: https://www.thenational.scot/news/26665517.climate-scientists-campaigners-round-english-greens-nuclear/
Thanks as always to Laura, Xander, Hamish, and the team 😊
The Green Party England and Wales has taken a wrong turn on nuclear
Nuclear pollution from accidents, incidents and normal reactor operation impacts people and our shared environment. New nuclear power increases the existential risk of weapons proliferation in an increasingly unstable world, and creates highly dangerous radioactive waste that is toxic for millenia. Uranium for new UK nuclear would be mined overseas and imported, also placing health and environmental burdens on indigenous and low-income communities while violating their human rights.
As we’ve seen in Ukraine and the Gulf, civil nuclear infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to military attack and AI cyber threat. Crucially, both coastal and inland nuclear will be at significant risk from ramping climate impact. In the UK, households already pay what amounts to a nuclear tax to fund Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, among the world’s most expensive nuclear projects. Meanwhile, renewables generate 52% of UK electricity – more than four times nuclear’s contribution.
Globally, the contrast is starker. In 2025, renewables supplied 85.6% of new global generating capacity. Solar capacity grew by 510GW and wind by 159GW, against just 1.5GW for nuclear: a 462:1 ratio. Nuclear now adds in a year roughly what renewables add every two days. In terms of actual annual electricity generation output, this means that last year new wind and solar supplied 104 times more usable power than new nuclear.
With 20-plus-year build times, repeated delays and huge cost overruns, new nuclear diverts scarce resources from faster options. Small modular reactor (SMR) designs remain in development, and won’t deliver electricity at scale for decades. Taking full account of systems costs of uninterrupted supply - renewables, storage, efficiency and stronger grids deliver far more firm power for every pound spent.
The uncomfortable truth is nuclear reduces and delays climate action. The very long nuclear development and build times means much longer fossil fuel burn. Nuclear is just too slow, too hazardous, and too costly for the climate and energy crises. The Green Party England and Wales has taken a wrong turn on nuclear.
Co-signed in alphabetic order:
Dr Keith Baker, Member of the Board of Directors, Common Weal
George Baxter, Director, GreenPower
Marianne Birkby, Founder, Radiation Free Lakeland
Prof Andrew Blowers OBE, Emeritus Professor, Open University; Chair, Blackwater Against New Nuclear Group
Dr Frank Boulton MD, former Chair of Medact UK
Tom Burke CBE, former CEO of Friends of the Earth and the Green Alliance
Mike Childs, Head of Science, Policy & Research, Friends of the Earth
Dr Paul Dorfman, Bennett Scholar, Bennett Institute, University of Sussex; Chair, Nuclear Consulting Group
Alison Downes, Co-ordinator, Stop Sizewell C
Prof David Elliott, Emeritus Professor, Open University
Herbert Eppel, Founding Co-Director, 100% Renewable UK
Dr Ian Fairlie, Vice President, CND
Philip Gilligan, Coordinator, Cumbria and Lancashire Area Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and South Lakeland and Lancaster District CND
Dr Phil Johnstone, Visiting Fellow, Global Studies, University of Sussex
Prof Dominic Kelly, Associate Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
Amory Lovins, Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University
Dr Michael Orgel MD, Medact Scotland and Medact UK Richard Outram, Activist, Wales Anti Nuclear Alliance
Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility
Dr Doug Parr, Chief Scientist, Greenpeace UK
Anna Peires, Executive Director, Medact UK
Linda Pentz-Gunter, Founder, Beyond Nuclear
Roy Pomfrey, Spokesman, Stop Hinkley C
Jonathon Porritt, Writer and Campaigner on Sustainable Development; former Co-Chair of the Green Party and Director of Friends of the Earth
Samuel Rafanell-Williams, Campaigns & Communications Officer, Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Nicola Roberts, Co-Founder, Wales Anti Nuclear Alliance
Prof Sue Roaf, Emeritus Professor of Architectural Engineering, Heriot Watt University
Pete Roche, Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace
Linda Rogers, in a personal capacity, Deputy Leader of Wales Green Party
Philippe de Rougemont, co-founder, Association Noé21
Prof Andy Stirling, Emeritus Professor, University of Sussex
Prof Peter Strachan, Robert Gordon University
Prof Steve Thomas, Editor-in-Chief of Energy Policy; Emeritus Professor of Energy Policy, University of Greenwich
Dr David Toke, Reader in Energy Politics, University of Aberdeen Prof Emeritus
Dave Webb, former Chair of CND Chris Wilson, Spokesperson, Together Against Sizewell C
Dr Bettina Wittneben, Lecturer in Management, University of Oxford Prof Brian Wynne, Emeritus Professor of Science Studies, University of Lancaster
Dr Bart Zeigler, President and Founder, Samuel Lawrence Foundation