Say NO to Nuclear

There appears to be a sudden resurgence of thinking around Nuclear Power. The concept now being introduced is that it could help to resolve the energy crisis. Little do most people know that almost 78% of the power produced in the UK is lost through the energy production process, I wonder if the same is true all over the world! In addition, with so many household and commercial electrical units on standby, energy is being wasted every second of the day.

The new nuclear message is also being ‘sold’ on the basis of ‘next generation’ nuclear power stations. However, I fear that their risk is still imposing on society. Maybe I’m being too paranoid but could it be that a political agenda with big money is being hidden from the public eye. Nuclear power has too many risks to humanity and this includes future generations. With so many accidents (lets just not get started on 3 mile island or even Chernobyl) and their long term impact, it appears that humankind has not learned from its past mistakes. Has anyone released yet that we will have to fund these new stations through taxes and that they could take over 14 years to build – what do we do in the meantime?

The other argument against going nuclear again is the risks associated with disposal, security, volatility and health. With regard to the latter point, we have to all be honest with ourselves and admit that nuclear power stations leak. This leakage affects the air, water and life forms within its vicinity.

What is needed is a radical redesign of how we live and the houses that we build. I remember when I was younger the number of government sponsored advertisements that attempted to tell us to save energy for future generation. Did the world suddenly find a new energy source when these advertisements stopped?!An energy strategy needs to be built upon exploring greater opportunities for renewable sources. I’m not suggesting that wind power alone should be relied on. What could help is offering a multitude of sources (Wave, Wind, Solar and Hydrogen) and an investigation into why so much waste occurs in the energy development process. In addition, why can’t businesses/factories be encouraged / rewarded for being innovative in their use of diverse power sources? There is a great opportunity for innovation if only the incentive was there. Corporations have to have a social responsibility too.We need to ask ourselves where are yesterday’s heroes that fought for CND – The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Surely, the issues they struggled for are still the same. At the time they stood against the build-up of weapons, especially during the backdrop darkness of the cold war. The story is the same today. Nuclear power is a threat to everyone because the energy source is just too risky to work with.

There is an alternative to nuclear power; we cannot wait for the new stations as they are a long term liability both financially and to humanity. We have renewable sources around us, lets innovative to accumulate.