Reports that the government is considering allowing generators to use ordinary landfill sites for dumping "hundreds of thousands of tons" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/19/nuclear-waste-landfill...) of nuclear waste is nothing short of insanity.

Conversely, it's empowering to see that local councils and campaign groups have totally rejected attempts from the UK's largest corporations to cash-in. Even Cumbria county council - regarded as the most pro-nuclear authority in the country - is among those trying to stop at least two landfill sites from being used for dumping radioactive waste.

Using landfill in this way is by no means new, but the figures being discussed are totally unprecedented.

In January 2008, the government gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations. So far, two consortia (EDF-Centrica and RWE-E.ON) have announced plans to build a total of 12.5GW of new nuclear capacity - this in itself is more than the total capacity of British Energy's currently operating plants.

My accusations of irrationality come down to this; to commission a new generation of nuclear power stations before we know where the waste will end up challenges the most fundamental ecological standard: you don't make a fresh mess before you've dealt with the previous one.

National repulsion towards nuclear has lapsed as time has blurred the memories of the Chernobyl disaster, and the leaks and accidents at Dounreay and Sellafield.

But even with the safety arguments put to one side, in the face of the formidable duo of climate and energy crisis, the nuclear option makes even less sense.

First is the issue of time. The most up-to-date climate science (http://solveclimate.com/blog/20090529/nobel-laureates-co2-emissions-must... ) tells us that if we are to confine the global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (and therefore avoid run-away climate change) we have to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015 and then drop to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Though you cannot argue with the fact that nuclear energy produces less carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than coal or gas, the new generation of nuclear power stations aren't planned to be operational until 2018. That's three years late! It's also worth noting that in Finland, where the most recent ‘modern' nuclear plant is currently under construction, the project has sailed past its deadline and gone £2billion over budget.