Scotland Debates New Nuclear Capacity

Last week we wrote about how Scotland is taking a fresh look at nuclear energy. In today's edition of the Scotsman, former UK Energy Minister Brian Wilson faced off against Scottish MP Alistair Carmichael on the issue.

Here's Wilson:

At present, Britain gets about 24 per cent of electricity from nuclear power. The figure in Scotland is, of course, double that. Any debate about whether such reliance was desirable is passé. The fact is that it exists and will shortly go into decline. In other words, at the very moment when there is an historic emphasis on increasing the supply of carbon-free electricity, we may be about to countenance the steady erosion of the one significant source of the stuff that we’ve actually got. To put it another way, everything we do on renewables for at least the next 20 years is - in carbon-reduction terms - only going to replace the nuclear power we are wishing away.

For more on nuclear energy's environmental benefits, click here. And click here for a piece from the Guardian on the costs imposed on Britain when it comes to rising demand for natural gas.

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Sneak Peek

There's an invisible force powering and propelling our way of life.
It's all around us. You can't feel it. Smell it. Or taste it.
But it's there all the same. And if you look close enough, you can see all the amazing and wondrous things it does.
It not only powers our cities and towns.
And all the high-tech things we love.
It gives us the power to invent.
To explore.
To discover.
To create advanced technologies.
This invisible force creates jobs out of thin air.
It adds billions to our economy.
It's on even when we're not.
And stays on no matter what Mother Nature throws at it.
This invisible force takes us to the outer reaches of outer space.
And to the very depths of our oceans.
It brings us together. And it makes us better.
And most importantly, it has the power to do all this in our lifetime while barely leaving a trace.
Some people might say it's kind of unbelievable.
They wonder, what is this new power that does all these extraordinary things?

NEI Nuclear Notes

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