SHOULD WE FEAR NUCLEAR?

FOR many the word nuclear conjures up negative images of war and destruction.

Nuclear energy however does hold the key to providing electricity in an environmentally sustainable way. To satisfy the ever increasing world demand for power the solution is a mix of different technologies that do not depend on fossil fuels – solar, wind, water and nuclear.

What is nuclear power?

To generate nuclear power (in non-military reactors ), uranium atoms are bombarded by much smaller neutron particles.

This causes the atoms to break down and release huge amounts of energy as heat. The heat is used to boil water which produces steam which drives turbines and generates electricity.

That’s enough of the science lesson.

How ‘green’ is nuclear power? And how safe ?

The International Atomic Agency has called nuclear power ‘intrinsically safe’.

In the UK, the chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in his recent budget that the government wants to provide 25% of the UK’s electricity needs by 2050 with nuclear power. Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear power stations do not pro- duce greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or methane during their operation. So in that sense, yes they are a greener solution.

The downside

The bad news is that it takes around 10 years to commission a new nuclear plant.

And it’s very expensive. It will cost over £30 billion to finish Hinkley C in the UK. Governments really don’t have much choice.

The lights of Europe cannot go out, and we have to rein in the well documented damaging effects of global warming.

So I say yes to nuclear. And we must continue to invest in it as well as other new technologies.

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