Not Green, but Cabbage Like
Posted on 27 Jan 22 by JitIn BBC, renewables, Uncategorized, wind power7 Minutes Read
Earlier today on Radio 4’s PM, Evan Davies interviewed the Greens’ sole MP about nuclear power. Your correspondent was sufficiently horrified to listen twice, the second time with a goodly number of pauses. Transcript follows, with my inline snark:
Evan Davies: So what role does nuclear power play in helping the UK reach its Net Zero target? You’ve heard the government’s position there. Let’s talk to Caroline Lucas, former leader of the Green Party, MP. Caroline [sic] thanks so much for joining us. Summarise for us where you are on nuclear now.
[We already know where they are on nuclear, which is nowhere. However, let’s hear what the reasons for that are.]
Caroline Lucas: Well that’s easy. We think that nuclear is eye-wateringly expensive. It is as you said painfully slow, and frankly it’s unnecessary. Look, this £100 million cash injection is an admission by the government that nuclear isn’t commercially viable and that new nuclear projects require enormous levels of subsidy even to get them to the point where they get the green light. Renewables, by contrast, have costs that are plummetting in recent years, so in a sense, if we’re concerned as we should be about costs for consumers it is far cheaper for them if we were to invest properly in renewable energy, in energy efficiency, rather than being fixated by a twentieth century technology which doesn’t have a place right now in terms of the green transition which is incredibly slow. I think it’s worth pointing out that the EDF plant in France, the so-called Flamanville 3 reactor is going to cost 300 million Euros more than was forecast and it is already running more than a decade late. Even if this went to plan –
https://cliscep.com/2022/01/27/not-green-but-cabbage-like/
