No nukes is good nukes

Blow me down with a wind turbine:

Building new nuclear plants is not the answer to tackling climate change or securing Britain's energy supply, a government advisory panel has reported.

The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) report says doubling nuclear capacity would make only a small impact on reducing carbon emissions by 2035

Bear in mind that not only would "doubling nuclear capacity" have at best a negligible effect, it would also entail massive cost. Nuclear power stations do not come (or go) cheap and many of the existing stations would need replacing just to maintain current levels of production.

The idea of using nuclear power to "solve" climate change has been bounced around by nuclear executives and governments for the last few years, attracting considerable criticism from environmentalists who dismiss the whole thing as an attempt to greenwash nuclear power, hitherto something of a pariah. What's surprising about this announcement is that it originates from the belly of the beast. Based on past experience I'd be less than surprised if the government ignore the whole thing and go ahead and try to build more plants anyway. If that's the case, no number of reports, adviories and committees are going to stop them. That, as ever, is up to us.

Hat-tip: Meaders.

File Under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Green, Politics, UK