ABSTRACT
The British public is divided over the issue of nuclear power. Many (including Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government) are pro-nuclear, and happy to see expansion of the country's nuclear power programme. But there is also a strong anti-nuclear lobby (which includes the main opposition parties) which is firmly convinced that existing nuclear power stations in Britain should be phased out and no new ones built. Nuclear issues are topical, and Chernobyl happened at a time of heightened public interest and awareness. The Public Inquiry over whether to build a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) at Sizewell in Suffolk — the country's biggest, longest and most-expensive Public Inquiry yet — was then in full flight (see Chapter Ten).
