LETTER AS SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO PHILIP STEELE'S LETTER AGAINST NUCLEAR POWER IN THE NORTH WALES CHRONICLE, 2006-02-16, P 11

Dear Editor,

I am writing in support of the excellent letter from Philip Steele (Chronicle, February 16, 2006) about the many headaches associated with nuclear power. To the several points he makes about the drawbacks of nuclear power (high cost, waste that is dangerous for thousands of years, hazards of low-level radiation, targets for terrorists, not carbon-free, and poor security of supply) I would like to add some others.

An integral part of the nuclear industry is the transport of nuclear fuel, nuclear waste, and plutonium, this last being an extremely-toxic product of the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. For any determined group of terrorists, it is a relatively simple matter to obtain these kinds of materials by hi-jacking or bribery and to pack them around a conventional bomb, so that they can be spread far and wide. Alternatively, these radioactive poisons may be simply added to our water supplies. They may even be used to make an atom bomb.

Another feature of the nuclear industry is its two-faced "Janus-like character" (in the words of Kofi Annan). The technology that is needed for nuclear power is quite similar to what is needed to make nuclear bombs. So widespread use of nuclear power makes it very much more difficult to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

It has been calculated (by Paul Mobbs, author of "Energy Beyond Oil", Matador, 2005, ISBN 1-905237-00-6) that if the world tried to rely on 'fission' nuclear power, we would soon run out of exploitable uranium. Any new-build nuclear power station could soon become a white elephant, without the fuel it needs to continue running.

As Philip Steele says, the way forward is emphatically with renewable forms of energy: power from wind, waves, tidal streams, hot rocks, biomass, and the enormous potential of power from the sun. A recent study for the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) shows with detailed projections how, even allowing for increases in demand for electricity, Europe can make deep cuts in CO2 emissions and phase out nuclear power at the same time (see www.mng.org.uk/green_house/renewable_energy/csp.htm).

Sincerely,

John Hedley

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