Energy Issues

I support the UK Government's plan for our next generation of energy facilities, including a new generation of nuclear power plants across Britain. It is a pragmatic combination of nuclear and green energy solutions.

I'm disappointed in the SNP's refusal to contemplate new nuclear power stations for Scotland - I support new nuclear as a reliable base for our energy needs, which will not waver if the wind stops blowing, the sky becomes cloudy or if its a calm day at sea. We can experiment with all the green energy solutions preferred by the Scottish Government with this nuclear base, but without the risk of gambling our entire energy grid on these solutions, many of which are untested.

As the Scotsman correctly points out today, nuclear energy is also much more efficient than the renewable sources championed by the SNP. Nuclear power plants operate at 80% of capacity, while "renewable plants" operate at "around 30%". Therefore the taxpayer gets more electricity for his tax money if it is spent on nuclear rather than renewable energy.

To directly compare nuclear with wind farms, as the most visible example of green energy in Scotland today, wind farms produce only 16% of their capacity or less for a quarter of the time. For half of the the time they produce 22% or less, and only produce more than half their capacity for 16% of the time. Again, this doesn't compare to the reliable 80% offered by nuclear.

But still, I support a combination of the two. In an ideal world, I would like to see Britain being powered entirely by green energy. However, a new, and possibly final, generation of nuclear power plants will provide a reliable and clean source of power while we experiment with green energy. We can't afford to let our entire grid become the experiment.