|PIC1|The leading Christian environmental group Christian Ecology Link (CEL) has called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to demand a debate in Parliament before the Government decides on nuclear power programmes.

CEL’s open letter to Dr Rowan Williams came as the government unveiled the results of its controversial Energy Review this week.

In the letter, published the day before the government announced that plans for a number of nuclear power stations to be set up across the country, CEL pleaded with the government to consider the ethical implications of nuclear power.

“These are policy decisions that will determine the direction of energy policy for several decades. They demand careful reflection by Government of the profound ethical issues involved, in the context of an open, public debate,” wrote Tim Cooper, chairman of CEL and author of the letter.

In addition the call for a public debate, the environmental group said the government had not “paid due attention to the ethical implications of a new nuclear power programme and the replacement of Trident”.|TOP|

CEL instead expressed its support for a low consumption, non-nuclear energy strategy and went on to accuse the government of misleading the public on the issue of nuclear power.

“Nuclear energy is only a small part of energy consumption,” the letter read.

“They have given the impression that nuclear power is essential to accompany climate change when that is blatantly untrue. It only accounts for 3.6 per cent of total energy use.”

Earlier in the week, the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler, and 19 other bishops voiced similar concerns in a letter published in the Monday edition of The Independent, saying that the possession of Trident nuclear weapons is unnecessary and sends the wrong message to other countries desiring nuclear weapons such as Iran.|AD|

Christian relief agency Tearfund expressed its "disappointment" with the government's Energy Review earlier in the week.

It noted that while some communities around the world are already suffering the impacts of global climate change, not enough attention is being paid to renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures.

Rachel Roach, Tearfund's climate change policy officer, said: "Tearfund is disappointed with the outcome of the Government's latest Energy Review launched today. The Government has missed a key chance for the UK to lead the way in developing a low-carbon economy via energy efficiency measures. The chance to develop renewables such as wind, wave and tidal power, seems to have been missed.

"We believe the UK government should not facilitate any new build nuclear power stations while there remain viable alternatives in the form of critical investment in energy efficiency, renewables and decentralisation including combined heat and power."