The debate over nuclear power seems to have caused a little debate, and Leftwing Criminologist is perhaps correct to pull me up on my lack of response to the debate thus far. It isn’t rooted in a fear of debate, but simply through lack of time.
This post is deliberately in short note form (this is why the blog is called Kit Notes) because there are points that I do want to come back to. I think it’s also worthwhile pointing out that I’m not an expert on nuclear power; I’m a local government worker and did Media Studies at University, so I can’t really pretend to be one either. But hopefully I’ll have stimulated some debate, and perhaps clarify where I stand a bit better, too.
I’m always open to being convinced otherwise, so do please comment.
• Disposal of nuclear waste is a massive problem. Kate Ahrens is correct when she says that we simply don’t know how to store nuclear waste properly. I still think that it’s perhaps better for the environment, however, that such waste isn’t circulating in the air like power generation from coal or gas. It’s also worth making the point that there could be a use for spent uranium – perhaps not depleted uranium weapons, but social uses – think about the machines that we use in our daily lives that use radioactive materials. It’s worth the research, I think – and perhaps a better use of the time of nuclear researchers and institutions like QinetiQ.
• I am opposed to the new wave of nuclear power plants planned by the Brown government – even more so if they are in private hands. As I said in my initial post on the subject, I simply do not trust capitalism – whether free market or state regulated – to run nuclear power. If companies who are bidding to win the contracts, such as EDF and RWE, run the new plants with the same devil-may-care attitude companies like Initial in the NHS, then we are in serious danger.
• Renewable energy, such as wind, hydro, tidal etc would be a perfect solution to the problem, but it isn’t. The UK has a population of 60 million, and even if we covered every green space with wind turbines, it isn’t going to be enough, as they simply can’t produce enough energy to satisfy demand, even if they run on full capacity. I don’t mind wind turbines – they cover the Pennines and I always wondered at their grace and beauty when I crossed the Pennines to get into (gnnnnh) Yorkshire. And any objections to them because of middle class NIMBYist tripe should be head on. But they’re not enough.
• Following on from that, there is still waste produced from all forms of energy production. There are also issues relating to the efficiency of the electricity transmission network – the National Grid. This also needs to be looked at.
• I don’t buy into the hype surrounding carbon capture. “Clean Coal” is an inefficient method, and takes more energy to capture emissions than it warrants. There is also the question of what to do with that captured carbon – where will it go? Underground?
It’s one of my new year’s resolutions to be a bit greener. I don’t own a car, but I am going to try to recycle properly (especially as there is a recycling thingy just down the road), cut down on electric consumption – you know, the sort of thing that might have the middle class environmentalist crowd drooling and patting me on the back for. Hopefully I’ll save some dough, too.
When I was a kid, everybody had these poppa-pants. Don’t laugh; they were the height of fashion in Salford when I was 13. For those of you who don’t know, poppa-pants had poppers (not that kind) down the sides of the legs, which popped open and split the leg open when released. When my mum finally bought me some, the first thing the other kids did was to repeatedly open then up. I learned a valuable lesson because of those pants.
