Q&A: Dr Richard Dixon on nuclear energy

Published on Tuesday 17 February 2009 20:57

The director of WWF Scotland gives his views on comments made by Jim Murphy, secretary of state for Scotland. He said the Scottish Government lacked common sense in banning new nuclear power plants in Scotland.

Why is a dispute going on between the UK and Scottish governments about the future of nuclear power in Scotland?

This is much more a political dispute than a technical one. Labour have decided that the SNP's opposition to nuclear is something they can try to ridicule. At the same time the SNP are making great progress on renewable energy to demonstrate the alternatives are real.

What did you think of Jim Murphy's comments on Monday?

Jim Murphy used the same old misleading arguments to talk up nuclear, including suggesting that Torness will shut in 2023 when even the Labour-led last government of Scotland put this at 2028. It was ironic that Jim Murphy made his nuclear rallying call on the same day that 10 offshore wind power sites were announced – at peak output they will produce three times the capacity of Scotland's nuclear stations, enough to meet all of Scotland's electricity demand.

Do you think there is a future for nuclear power in Scotland?

Scotland has the best renewable energy potential of any country in Europe. Even if nuclear were not the ultimate unsustainable form of energy, it would be the wrong choice. Arguing about and wasting money on nuclear is a distraction from the real task of harnessing Scotland's huge renewable energy resources.

Don't we need nuclear to provide a baseload electricity supply?

We need a transformation of our energy supply system, making more energy locally and transporting energy from wind and wave power to where it is needed. The combination of a mix of renewables, new storage capacity, gas power stations and, in the future, coal power using carbon-capture and storage will ensure we have more then enough electricity.