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The best way of reducing CO2 emissions and improving energy security is by an expansion of civil nuclear power
David Heathcoat-Amory
Conservative MP David Heathcoat-Amory outlines the issues being raised in his Westminster Hall debate on nuclear energy.
Due to a combination of short-sightedness and wishful thinking, the UK faces a looming energy gap.
Nuclear power stations are being decommissioned and our coal burning power stations are increasingly obsolete. The gap is being plugged by burning more gas, but this is becoming expensive, and is not secure.
The government should have seen this coming. Instead, they ignored nuclear power and committed themselves to a completely unrealistic expansion of renewable energy. The targets for wind power are just hot air. And if these targets were met it would be extremely expensive – creating fuel poverty and making British industry even less competitive.
The best way of reducing CO2 emissions and improving energy security is by an expansion of civil nuclear power. This industry is more than 50 years old and Britain once had a world lead. That advantage has been squandered, and the government has even sold Westinghouse to the Japanese so we do not have a nuclear power builder anymore. We are reduced to being sub-contractors and clients.
The government now recognises that nuclear power is not only secure and low carbon but also economic. The recent consultation document on the Severn tidal power scheme published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change lists nuclear power as the lowest cost option.
The challenge for the nuclear industry is to build new stations on time and within budget. They must be completely open with the public, and the government must lead the debate. Safety must always be the priority, and we must find a site for the deep storage of nuclear waste.
Severe skill shortages and supply bottlenecks are threatening to delay the restart of the nuclear programme. If there is to be a worthwhile British input into the next generation or reactors, the government must end its years of neglect and back British nuclear engineering.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd