LETTER FOR PUBLICATION

Dear Editor

NUCLEAR DANGERS

In his letter of the 24th of March, Alan Raymont of Horizon Nuclear Power says that "The UK nuclear industry has an incredibly robust safety regime."

But a recent report in the Guardian newspaper says that there has been a series of safety blunders at UK nuclear reactors. "Two reactors at Torness in East Lothian have suffered failures in electricity supplies, several 'unplanned shutdowns', and a seaweed blockage. It was the loss of power caused by the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the still unfolding nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan." In another incident, "an equipment malfunction cut off the electricity supplied to a gas circulator. Gas circulators are critical components because they ensure that air is kept moving to cool reactor fuel and prevent it from overheating." And in yet another incident there were problems with electricity supply to a facility for dismantling radioactive fuel.

The nuclear industry is always claiming that nuclear power is safe but in a series of disasters, near-disasters, and other accidents, it is constantly being proved wrong. The fundamental problem is that equipment of any kind can fail and that people can and do make mistakes -- and when these things happen in a nuclear power station, there is potential for catastrophe.

There is now a lot of good evidence from reputable sources that the world -- including Wales -- can meet all its needs for energy, not just electricity, from clean renewable sources of power. Those clean, green sources of power are very much safer than nuclear power, they are cheaper than nuclear power, and they can provide good, well-paid jobs far into the future, long after the last nuclear power station has been shut down.

Sincerely,

Dr Gerry Wolff PhD CEng

Energy Fair