Mick O’Reilly
Editor
Cambrian News
31 October 2021
Editor,
Why Nuclear Power is NOT Safe
Charlie Evans explains very well why he favours new nuclear power stations at Yr Wylfa and Trawsfynydd but he does not address any safety concerns. The Green Party’s anti-nuclear stance is based upon science. Our objections to nuclear power are not flimsy.
To combat climate change we need to drastically reduce our energy consumption within the current decade. Nuclear power stations take a long time to build and use a lot of energy in the building process. Addressing energy demand coupled with a rapid increase of wind turbines and solar panels is the way to get to net zero at speed.
Nuclear energy leaves a huge legacy for future generations. We don’t want to leave future generations to deal with our climate mess; neither do we wish them to have to sort out our nuclear waste. To date, all the nuclear waste generated since the first nuclear power station was built, is still there waiting for us to store safely, not just for a few decades but for hundreds of thousands of years. Which nuclear power proposal has that length of time built into its safety plans?
Nuclear power plants require lots of cooling water which is why they are always built near the sea or a main river. With rising sea levels they are in dangerous positions. I have heard of plans to reuse cooling water on site but the expense of it puts the industry off. Cooling water kills millions of marine creatures every day, something the nuclear proponents don’t like to talk about. Our seas need protecting, not being exploited by an industry that isn’t interested in biodiversity.
Nuclear power is so expensive that the UK relies on foreign investors to pay for it. Do we really want the Chinese to be involved in our electricity generation? It appears that our Government isn’t keen and that the Chancellor’s plan is to make all of us pay for nuclear by adding a levy to our electricity bills. So much for choice, the free marketeers’ favourite slogan! A consumer chooses to pay an electricity provider to generate electricity from the wind and the sun, but they get clobbered in any case with having to pay for super expensive energy they don’t approve of on moral grounds, it’s like asking a vegan to pay for somebody else’s meat.
I haven’t even touched on the terrorist threat. Nuclear safe? Not in the slightest! Our young people are watching politicians at COP 26 this week and next week. They won’t thank us for leaving them with a dangerous legacy
Yours sincerely
Harry Hayfield
Ceredigion Green Party
