Predicting the next 100,000 years?

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 20th Jun 2006

The Lib Dems launched a national campaign this week against the building of any new nuclear power stations with a reminder that it is estimated to take 100,000 years for nuclear waste to become safe.

Stephen Lloyd, Lib Dem parliamentary challenger said: "Predicting the next 100,000 years isn't easy. Even the best efforts of scientists and Sci-Fi writers from just thirty years ago to predict the twenty-first century often look embarrassing wrong. Yet that's how long waste from nuclear power stations has to be kept safe.

"Just think how long 100,000 years really is. If the Victorians, or the Tudors, or William the Conqueror, or the Vikings, or even cavemen had had nuclear power ... we would still be looking after their waste. Do you really think it would have been kept safe during all that time?

"For much less money (and at much greater safety) we can instead ensure there is enough power to go round with a combination of renewables, microgeneration (such as solar panels on the roofs of people's houses), energy efficiency and clean coal. It is imperative that we learn from past mistakes so that our grandchildren have a safe future".

Click here for more in detail about Lib Dem policy - and the true cost of nuclear power - at http://www.libdems.org.uk