MR Case 'Could Spark More Challenges' to UK Nuclear Plans

The UK government has been warned by lawyers that it could face further delays to its plans for new nuclear power stations, in the form of legal challenges. The advice follows Greenpeace's success in challenging 'flawed' market research by Opinion Leader during the consultation process.

In documents seen by the Guardian newspaper (www.guardian.co.uk ), City law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner told the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR): 'The government aims to get national policy to parliament as quickly as possible, but it will face further legal challenges which are capable of knocking back the programme by a year or more, if it continues to give the impression that the [outcome of the nuclear consultation] process is a foregone conclusion.'

A month ago the Market Research Standards Board upheld one of Greenpeace's claims that the process had been flawed. The MRSB said Opinion Leader's part in consultation for the 2008 energy white paper had breached the MRS Code of Conduct with information that was inaccurately or misleadingly presented. It also rejected four other claims made by the environmental group. Opinion Leader CEO Viki Cooke rejected the ruling and commented: 'We do not believe that the MRS is competent to assess these new forms of deliberative engagement. We are completely satisfied that the project was sound and fair.'

This week's legal advice says the next risk of a challenge will come with the 'justification process' for the planning bill, scheduled for the next month. There is then further potential for trouble early next year centred around the strategic environment assessment (SEA) and strategic site assessment (SSA) processes for new power stations - these could lead to arguments over whether the best sites have been selected.

French utility group EDF is a focus of the government's hopes for the new programme of building - it has promised to build new stations soon, with the first of them operating by 2017.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.