LONDON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Britain is giving "handouts" to Chinese and French companies to develop nuclear energy but it should focus on renewable energy, an advocacy group official said.
Craig Bennet, a director at Friends of the Earth U.K., said nuclear power takes too long to develop into a viable solution to climate fears when compared with renewable energy resources like wind, solar and marine power.
"The government has chosen to give enormous long-term handouts to Chinese and French companies when they could be developing a world class renewable industry in the country," he said in a statement Thursday.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Thursday in China energy companies there can take a stake in the British nuclear power sector. The British government earlier this week said it was close to striking a deal with French energy company EDF for nuclear power work on the western British coast.
British Energy and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said last week the country is on pace to cut its emissions by 34 percent by 2020 because of gains in renewable energy.
