My main reason for opposing new nuclear plants is an economic one. The CO2 savings per pound invested in energy saving measures, micro-generation and renewables will be far greater than that on more reactors. To drive the fact home comes the news that the clean up costs for the last generation of nuclear reactors is going to be far higher than estimated. This was announced as plans go ahead to privatise the division of BNFL that does the decommissioning. I’m with Amicus on that move-
“Our union is opposed to the sale of the British Nuclear Group in principle,” said Amicus national officer Dougie Rooney.
“But we are also concerned that it could compromise the government’s stated objectives of decommissioning civil nuclear sites in the UK at a reduced cost to the taxpayer and a reduced timescale while maintaining safety standards.”
So let’s not throw any more cash into the nuclear money pit, and invest in sensible solutions instead.
Technorati tag: Nuclear Power, Wasting Money
One of the issues with energy and energy savings is just how much energy western civilization uses. Even if this was cut 50% it’s just a huge, huge amount, and nice things like renewables would have to be scaled up massively – and that still might not do it, because some of them are dependent on weather. (People like air-conditioning on a hot, windless day and heat on a cold, windless day, for instance.) Only the base-load methods of fossil, nuclear and hydropower have been proven dependable for huge amounts of energy production. But it’s a good idea if everyone looks at these issues more closely. Just “do the math” as you think about it.
For a look at why nuclear power costs so much, see my free insider novel of nuclear energy at my website: RadDecision.blogspot.com.