When Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Nicolas Sarkozy meet in London this week, a new entente is expected to be announced between the two states.

In what is already being dubbed as the 'entente atomique' will be a joint agreement between the two Governments that could have far reaching consequences for the nuclear industry in Europe. At the "Arsenal summit" Brown hopes to clinch a deal that will see the employment of French nuclear expertise to build the next generation of 'British' nuclear power stations.

79% of France' energy supplies comes from nuclear power compared to Britain's current 18%, but Brown is hoping, with the help of Sarkozy, that a new skilled nuclear work force will be trained who will build up and renew Britain's aging nuclear industry. The plan is that Brown and Sarkozy will then sell the nuclear power idea to other states over the next 15 years.

One glitch in the plan that Brown seems to have overlooked is that neither Scotland nor Wales want nuclear energy, as attested by letter replies from the respective Government's to the League in recent months. Either Brown will have to force his idea onto Scotland and Wales (which is more possible in Wales than in Scotland), threatening a massive revolt or he will have to settle for building any new power station in England and Cornwall or possibly the north of Ireland, which probably wouldn't meet with enthusiastic approval.

Brown does have the option, of course, of not making new builds and settling for the power stations that are currently in existence and modifying them so that they become more energy efficient. This is the realistic option when it is taken into consideration that the population at large is not supportive of using nuclear energy.

It is perhaps ironic that this week is also the 50th anniversary of the first Aldermaston march by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) to protest against the nuclear weapon technology deployed there. A new nuclear agenda where nuclear energy is to be sold to the world is of course going to raise some very real security risks. On the one hand Brown is saying that nuclear energy has security implications, but on the other both him and Sarkozy are planning to sell a new generation of nuclear technology to other 'unknown' states that will enable them to produce plutonium.

The intentions of the pair are not altruistic by any means, or - as Brown and his Government would have us believe – motivated by concerns for the environment. Nuclear energy is big business and has been predicted to be a very lucrative market indeed, with the Brown/Sarkozy sales pitch going something like 'green and secure – unlike Russian gas – oil's running out, buy nuclear en masse.'

Another issue that many commentators have also failed to adequately cover is the moral implications of expanding France's nuclear vitality in the world. Currently France extracts its uranium for use in its nuclear reactors from Gabon and Niger in Africa. Both states are ruled by military dictators and backed by the French military, so that French interests in the uranium mines are protected. It has been reported that as many as one in two workers at the mine have been affected by leukaemia as a consequence of radiation poisoning and there is also a high uranium 'leakage' rate to criminal gangs.

The consequences of the expected nuclear partnership between France and Britain not only have implications for the Celtic countries, but also for environmentalists and peace and civil rights campaigners throughout the world.

The Celtic League has campaigned for many years against the British and French nuclear industry. This 'unholy' alliance between the two States will act as a spur to both ourselves and others to redouble our opposition to the nuclear industry.

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

26/03/08

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