Letter: Half-baked thinking on nuclear power

OVER THE past few years we have grown used to the SNP's pick-and-mix policy when it comes to validating its ideas by pointing out that one or two other countries are doing the same as it is.

We all remember how we were going to follow the examples of Ireland and Iceland in terms of independent economic policy, and we know what happened there.

Now the government of one country (Germany, your report, 31 May) decides it will abandon nuclear power for its own domestic political reasons in order to remain in power, and this sort of half-baked decision-making is used to justify our own policy of destroying our environment by building unreliable and costly wind farms which will only ever generate a fraction of the electricity promised.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It seems incredible that the SNP's focus on closing down nuclear power stations, which will lead either to the lights going out or an increased reliance on coal and gas power stations, appears in The Scotsman on the day when it is announced that global carbon emissions have reached record levels.

Alan J Black

Camus Avenue

Edinburgh

When talking about nuclear, there's often a confusion between total energy and electricity. So let's get this clear: electricity comprises only a part of total energy use.

For example, by UK government figures, if we went for a very significant new reactor build in the UK, it could only supply around 4 per cent of our total energy, and so ameliorate only 4 per cent of out total CO2 global warming emissions.

This is because in the UK, electricity comprises 20 per cent of total energy, and nuclear at its height supplied around 20 per cent of total electricity.

In Germany, the situation is slightly different. The most recent figures available from Eurostat tell us that primary energy consumption in Germany is 289.9 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe), with nuclear consumption at 30.5 mtoe.

This means that nuclear provides around 9.5 per cent of total German energy.

It's interesting that Germany is currently more reliant on nuclear power than the UK, yet will discard this technology within ten years. I guess the question is: what does Chris Huhne know that the most scientifically, technically and economically robust state in Europe doesn't?

(Dr) Paul Dorfman

Warwick Business School

University of Warwick