Nuclearinfo.org.uk Questions and Answers about Nuclear Power |
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This website has been set up to provide information about the issues around nuclear power, renewable energy and energy in general. The energy debate has seen a great deal of false and incorrect information. This website provides definitive, referenced facts to help inform the debate. This website is always developing and your contributions will be welcome. Please ask questions or supply information or let us know of good sources of information you have found. Send comments and contributions to mail@nuclearinfo.org.uk |
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Frequently asked questions Isn't nuclear electricity carbon-free? Click here France's electricity is 80% nuclear - shouldn't ours be? Click here How does the nuclear industry seek to influence Government? Click here |
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Introduction to the nuclear debate The UK government’s Energy Review favoured a new phase of nuclear power station construction. The multinational companies behind the nuclear industry, along with unions based at Sellafield, have lobbied hard and have convinced Tony Blair to support nuclear power. The argument against nuclear power was won in the 1980s, with a mass of environmental and economic evidence leading to the halting of power station construction. Why is this dinosaur being resurrected? The answer is simple - political expediency. Vast sums of our taxes will go to support an industry which is uneconomic, is not CO2-free, as claimed, and diverts investment from renewables. Renewables are not just windfarms Passive solar heating, ground-source heat pumps, micro-hydro, biomass and a range of other new renewable technologies, have recently become practical realities. And most important is energy efficiency – the less electricity we use the less we need to generate. Nuclear power will not help tackle climate change Nuclear power is expensive Nowhere in the world have new nuclear power stations yet been financed within a liberalised electricity market [5]. This is because they are not economic. You the taxpayer will also need to provide vast subsidies to get the nuclear power programme going again, and then you’ll have to pay yet more to clean up the even worse mess 20 years down the line. No insurer will touch nuclear power stations. Our government has agreed to pay out of your taxes in the event of a nuclear disaster. The Chernobyl accident has already cost Ukraine £68 billion [6]. The Government estimates that by 2020 the cost of nuclear power will be 3-4p/kWh (excluding clean-up costs), compared with onshore wind (1.5-2.5p), offshore wind (2-3p); energy crops (2.5-4p); wave and tidal (4-8p) and photovoltaic solar panels (10-16p) [5]. Most renewables are coming down in price due to new technologies and improving markets. The cost of wind energy has fallen by a factor of 4 since 1991 [7], while the costs of nuclear are increasing, in part because uranium supplies are becoming more scarce. Nuclear power undermines renewables What you need to do now
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