What don't we hear about nuclear power? Is it the huge set-up costs? Is it the inability to handle nuclear waste? In spite of CoRWM's recent analysis we are still no nearer solving the problem than we were 20 years ago. Is it the intrinsic hazards associated with emissions from nuclear power plants - the true extent of which has been supressed for years by a critically weakened World Health Organisation under pressure from the member states that fund it? (64 casualties from Chernobyl anyone?) Or is it the huge decomssioning costs? Huge you say? Well they have already risen to ??90Bn from ??50Bn at the end of last year and look set to rise further. Factor in the cost of decommissioning our MoD Nuclear sites and you are looking at ??120Bn already. A nuclear tax on every man woman and child in the UK.

And what of a new generation of power stations? True they are probably safer now than they used to be - although it's difficult to say how safe given that almost none have been built in Europe in the last 15 years, but the bottom line is that they are a slow and unwieldy response to the dangers of climate change.

What we need is nothing short of a revolution in our relationship with electricity, a similar revolution to that which we have seen with food as we have made the change to locally produced and sustainable products.

We waste a huge amount of the energy we produce in transmission due to our reliance on centralised energy production. While this is good for big business, it is incredibly inefficient. We need a decentralised energy system generating energy on a local scale that reconnects consumers with how much energy they use and how much they waste. It is neither rocket science nor nuclear physics and requires nothing but a bit of imagination from a government in thrall to the nuclear industry's spectacularly well-funded lobbyists.

How is it possible to store the highly dangerous radioactive waste safely for 1000s of years? It isn't.
Can generators be safely decommisioned at a reasonable cost? No.
This is madness for future generations.

??90billion to clear up the current nuclear mess! New nuclear want huge subsidies and guaranteed electricity prices. 40 years of Hinkley Point have proved that nuclear damages the health of local populations. Why is this not taken into account? Wind/wave/coal do not kill people, nuclear does.

Interesting to hear Eric speak out against new nuclear build, despite the fact that BNFL are one of SNW's main sponsors. In my view, Eric is correct to state that nuclear is clearly not the way forward, and that we should be focusing on truly sustainable technologies based on the principles of maximising efficiency , minimising unnecessary use, and renewable technologies. As well as the insurmountable issues of waste management, insufficient urnanium resources, the massive health and environmental risks from irradiation, and security (in terms of accidents / terrorism), nuclear power is and can be shown to have always been a colossal waste of resources. The absolute bottom line, irrespective of the above issues, is that investment in nuclear, pound for pound does not buy you as much electricity or carbon reduction as concerted investment in efficiency and renewables. This is incontrivertible and has been demonstrated by the Rocky Mountain Institute, New Economics Foundation and many others. Nuclear is NOT an answer to either climate change or power generation. We have now a once in a lifetime opportunity to put our energy infrastructure on a sustainable path, and we MUST not allow the interests of overseas corporations and governments (primarily the US) divert us from this.

There is more radiation leaked from a coal mine than a nuclear power station, there is a need for a long term solution for the current stock of nuclear waste, new waste would only add a small % to this. People complain about subsidies, what about the millions granted to wind power so far? There are a number of reasons why nuclear power is a necessity, not to be used on it own, obviously, but in conjunction with a number of other sources, including wind, wave etc. People must realise that there is no real alternative to fill the gap left when the current fleet of power stations close.