As the UK general election campaign draws to a close in its own inimitable way, all three main parties are committed to reducing CO2 emissions and promoting a low carbon economy. One policy difference between the Liberal Democrats and the other two involve nuclear power. The Lib Dems are against it; the Tories and Labour are all for it. Who’s right?
The three arguments against nuclear power are that it’s expensive, dangerous and unnecessary. Taking each issue in turn:
One nuclear power station costs about £3bn and delivers about 1GW of power. An offshore windfarm delivering the same amount of power would cost about £6bn.
Since the Chernobyl accident in 1986 there have been 443 nuclear power stations producing 16% of the entire world’s electricity with no significant accidents. The World Health Organisation estimates that a total of 4000 people will eventually die prematurely as a result of the Chernobyl disaster. While this is a terrible toll, it is less than the 4000 miners who die every year in Chinese coal mines, or 24,000 people who die every year as a result of pollution from coal fired power stations.
We could generate all the electricity we need in the UK from wind – if we were prepared to cover an area the size of Wales with windmills. If not, we’re going to need an alternative source, and that’s probably going to be nuclear. For a well informed discussion on how the numbers for electricity generation add up, and why nuclear is probably going to be part of the mix, see David MacKay’s excellent book and website Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air.
