NUCLEAR POWER

Letter in the Scotsman, 2009-02-04

Steuart Campbell (Letters, 2 February) is himself misrepresenting the cost of nuclear power, quoting the misleading figures successfully spread by the nuclear industry. A report from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) in 2005 concluded that, once realistic construction and running costs were factored in, a kilowatt-hour of electricity from a nuclear generator would cost as much as 8.3p – substantially more than claimed by the nuclear industry. Since then, nuclear costs have risen.

The NEF figure takes no account of the substantial hidden subsidies enjoyed by the nuclear industry. One of the biggest is that it has to pay only a small fraction of the cost of insuring against a Chernobyl-style disaster.

DR GERRY WOLFF

Penlon, Menai Bridge, Anglesey