nuclear-news

UK Green Party’s Natalie Bennett speaks on nuclear power

Nuclear power is the Betamax of the energy world Guardian UK, Natalie Bennett, 28 Sept 12 We need to stop being distracted by this technology and focus on promoting and investing in renewables  In my first month as the new Green party leader , I’ve spent lots of time talking about pressing economic and social issues – the need for the minimum wage to be a living wage, how benefits should be available to all who need them, and how costly and destructive the privatisation of the NHS will be.

But with the government’s energy bill on the horizon , serious questions around the coalition’s wobbly-looking commitment not to subsidise new nuclear, and an anti-nuclear protest at Hinkley Point on 8 October , I’ve also spent lots of my time explaining why I think renewable energy – wind, solar and, in the future, tide and wave – combined with energy conservation, provide an excellent way forward for British energy.

I talk about the fact that the first two are technologies that are ready to scale up right now, providing jobs and affordable supplies for Britain. And about the fact that we know exactly what all of their “fuel” supplies will cost indefinitely into the future – ie nothing.

I talk about the way they can provide a decentralised, resilient energy system that is able to withstand climate or other shocks. And I discuss how nuclear is a distraction from the need to promote and invest in renewables.

Fuelled by a fierce and well-funded industry lobby claiming that nuclear would address the dire, if exaggerated, warnings about “the lights going out”, as well as the urgent need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, the nuclear idea has gained some traction recently in the UK.

So I think it is worth spending a little time talking about why nuclear poweris the Betamax of the energy world – a technology that was briefly in the hunt, but now could be ready to fade away into a museum curiosity. And you don’t have to just believe me on this – consider this recent front page  from the Economist.

First, it is immensely and unpredictably expensive…..

Second, it is slow to build – very, very slow…….

Third, it is by its nature monopolistic. Enormously expensive and, technologically, immensely complicated, no community would be able to decide to install one even if they wanted to. Local communities aren’t going to be able to install one to boost local education spending in the same way that a Scottish Green party councillor is suggesting with wind turbines in Aberdeenshire .

Fourth, it isn’t renewable.  Arguments are many and varied about the supplies of nuclear fuels and how long they might last, but whatever figures you accept, the fact is we’re talking about a quite limited supply. But the wind and the sun are never going to run out – at least not in a time frame we have to worry about.

Fifth, it is unreliable….

Then there is safety. …

We need to stop getting distracted by this 20th-century Betamax option, and get on with putting in place the 21st-century renewables solution http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/sep/28/nuclear-power-betamax-energy-world?newsfeed=true

September 29, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general