9 April 2006Rob Edwards
TONY Blair'splan to resurrect nuclear power is going to be dealt a damaging blow by 40 of Britain's leading energy and climate scientists, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
Engineers, experts and academics from Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, Oxford and Cambridge will forcibly tell the Prime Minister this week that building more nuclear reactors is not the solution to global warming.
Nuclear power is "a limited, inflexible, expensive and potentially dangerous energy source which creates unique problems", they say. Alternatives including greater energy efficiency and renewable sources are more likely to deliver safe, secure and climate-friendly energy.
The UK government launched its heavily trailed review of energy policy in January. It is widely expected to conclude that Britain needs to build a new programme of nuclear power stations in order to help combat climate change.
But tomorrow, Downing Street will be presented with a powerful counter-argument from some of the country's best energy brains. "Continued use of nuclear power will increase the opportunities for the spread of nuclear weapons," they warn.
Nuclear waste will have to be isolated from the environment "for timescales which dwarf that of human civilisation", they point out. They added: "We also believe that nuclear facilities pose a very serious risk due to the possibility of terrorist attack."
In a joint letter to Blair, they conclude: "We strongly urge the UK government not to decide in favour of a new generation of nuclear power stations, but rather to invest the resources and research effort into alternatives."
One of the scientists behind the move is Keith Barnham, a professor of physics from Imperial College, London. "Nuclear new build will be too little, too late, too expensive and too dangerous," he told the Sunday Herald.
"Every man, woman and child in the UK is committed to paying over £30 per head per year for over 30 years to clear up the waste from the existing reactors. No industry with a record like that should be allowed a second chance."
Barnham pointed out that it will take at least 10 years to build a new nuclear reactor. "We need to act now to stop global warming," he said. "Germany already has more wind power capacity than all the UK nuclear reactors together, and in five years will have installed as much solar electricity."
Another signatory is Tim Jackson, a professor at the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey. "This is completely the wrong time for Tony Blair to be issuing party invitations to the nuclear lobby," he said.
"The industry has failed to make a coherent financial case, failed to come up with a credible strategy for dealing with long-term radioactive waste, and failed to allay public concerns over the security implications of the nuclear fuel cycle."
He added: "The Prime Minister should be strengthening his government's weak-willed commitment to energy efficiency, demand reduction and renewable energy, not mortgaging the future for countless generations to the hazards of nuclear power."
The joint letter was co-ordinated by Scientists for Global Responsibility, an independent, 850-strong group concerned about social justice and environmental sustainability. It is anxious to dispel the notion that scientists are all pro-nuclear.
Stuart Parkinson, the group's executive director, said: "There's a perception that all scientists and engineers think new nuclear power is the way to go to tackle climate change and improve energy security, but this is not true.
"Many are sceptical of nuclear [energy] and believe that other measures such as controlling energy demand, improving energy efficiency and expanding renewable energy are superior options."
Parkinson attacked the UK government's record on energy efficiency and renewables as "piecemeal and half-hearted". He pointed out that the costs of cleaning up the legacy of the past 60 years of nuclear power were spiralling ever upwards, with some estimates now over £100 billion.
"We simply do not believe the government when it says that a new generation of nuclear power stations can be built, operated and decommissioned without significant sums of public money."
Parkinson was also concerned about the global example being set by the UK. "Our government seems keen to stick with both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. So how are we to convince countries like Iran and North Korea that they shouldn't try and copy us?"
Another prominent signatory to the letter is Nottingham University professor Mark Whitby, a former president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He criticised the construction industry for lobbying strongly behind the scenes in favour of a new nuclear programme.
That industry's claim that the lights would go out because nearly all of Britain's nuclear power stations would be closed by 2020 was "sensationalist", he said. Only a few small stations would be closed, and there were plentiful supplies of gas from abroad.
Nuclear power would not be a low emitter of climate-wrecking carbon pollution, either, Whitby argued, because of the high energy costs of extracting low-grade uranium ores in the future.
"Nuclear power is very expensive compared to other technologies," he said. "It has gone bankrupt on a number of occasions. It is not cheap to build, to run or to decommission."
The letter was also signed by Dr Katherine Begg, an energy and climate policy analyst from Edinburgh University. She said she was worried about the implications for the spread of nuclear weapons, and the costs: "The money spent so far on promoting and implementing alternatives is increasing, but is a drop in the ocean compared to that required to build new nuclear stations and support them."
Other signatories include Dr Marion Hersh, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Glasgow University; Roy Butterfield, emeritus professor of civil engineering at Southampton University; Dr Sarah Darby, an environmental scientist from Oxford University; Dr Tim Foxon, a climate scientist from Cambridge University; and Dr Frank Barnaby, a nuclear scientist from the Oxford Research Group.
The nuclear industry responded by arguing that nuclear power was necessary to slow global warming. "Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing us today and we need to use all the tools at our disposal to tackle it," said Simon James, the spokesman for the UK Nuclear Industry Association.
"While we've not seen this letter, we're sure its authors would agree that renewables or energy efficiency on their own can't tackle the problem. We should be using renewables, energy efficiency, nuclear and carbon sequestration to really make a difference."
The signatories
Dr Stuart Parkinson BEng PhD Executive Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility
Dr Frank Barnaby MSc PhD DSc (Hon) Nuclear security scientist, Oxford Research Group
Prof Keith Barnham BSc PhD Professor of physics, Imperial College, London
Dr Kathryn Bashford BSc PhD Climate impacts scientist (education sector)
Dr Katherine Begg BSc PhD MRSC Energy and climate policy analyst, Centre for the Study of Environmental Change and Sustainability, University of Edinburgh
Dr William Bordass MA PhD CompanionCIBSE HonFRIBA Energy and buildings consultant, William Bordass Associates
Prof Roy Butterfield DSc DIC BSc MICE MIStructE Professor emeritus of civil engineering, University of Southampton
Dr David Cromwell BSc PhD Climate physicist, University of Southampton
Fiona Cruchley MSc Climate policy analyst (public sector)
Dr Sarah Darby BSc DPhil Energy and environment scientist, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Dr Stephen Dickinson BEng PhD MIEE CEng Lecturer in electrical engineering, Lancaster University
Brian Edwards MCIBSE Chartered building services engineer (industry)
Dr Tim Foxon BSc PhD Climate technology and policy scientist, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, University of Cambridge
Dr Marion Hersh MA MSc PhD MIEE CEng CMath Senior lecturer in electrical engineering, Glasgow University
Dr Dan van der Horst PhD Lecturer in environmental management, University of Birmingham
Dr Jane Hunt PhD Sociologist in science and technology, Centre for the Study of Environmental Change, Lancaster University
Prof Tim Jackson MA PhD FRSA Professor of sustainable development, Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey
Dr Christian Jardine MChem DPhil Renewable energy scientist, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Genevieve Jones BSc Arch dip Arch Lecturer in sustainable design and technology, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Gavin Killip MSc Energy and environment scientist, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Dr Martin Juckes MA PhD Atmospheric scientist (public research institution)
Dr Jonathan Köhler PhD MRINA Climate technology and policy scientist Tyndall Centre and Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, University of Cambridge
Dr Jeremy Leggett DPhil Chief Executive Officer, Solar Century Ltd
Roger Levett BSc Energy and sustainable development consultant, Levett-Therivel Sustainability Consultants
Dr Larch Maxey LLB MSc PhD Lecturer in geography, University of Wales, Swansea
Dr Jenny Nelson BA PhD Solar energy physicist, Imperial College, London
Dr Brian Orr BSc PhD Energy engineer (independent)
Prof Malcolm Povey BA PhD FInstP CPhys CEng Professor of food physics, University of Leeds
Dr Jerome Ravetz PhD Philosopher in science, technology and policy, James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, University of Oxford
Dr Renata Romanowicz PhD DSc Environment and climate scientist, Lancaster University
Dr Janet Rudge BA BArch MSc PhD Energy, environment and health scientist, London Metropolitan University
Dr Adrian Smith Dip Lang BEng MSc DPhil Energy and technology policy analyst, SPRU, University of Sussex
Dr Heidi Smith BSc MSc PhD Climate impacts scientist (public sector)
Dr Ian Taylor BA PhD Energy and transport consultant (consultancy)
Laura Thompson BSc Energy and environment consultant, Thames Valley Energy Centre
Dr James B Thring BArch MCD PhD MRTPI Energy and environment consultant (independent)
Tom Tibbits MSci ARCS Solar energy physicist, Imperial College, London
Dr Philip Webber BSc PhD DIC MIEMA Energy and sustainable development analyst (public sector)
Prof Mark Whitby BSc FREng FICE Hon FRIBA Professor of sustainable construction, Nottingham University, and former President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Prof John Whitelegg BA PhD LLB Professor of sustainable development, Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York
NB Affiliations are given for information only. All signatories are signing in a personal capacity.
