Why Scotland needs to accept the need for 'green' nuclear power
Climate change and energy experts see an important role for nuclear energy in decarbonising our economy
As energy-hungry data centres spring up across the country and cars, home-heating systems and industrial processes switch from fossil fuels to electricity, demand for the latter is obviously going to soar. In fact, a recent report by the Climate Change Committee (CCC), the independent advisers to the UK and Scottish Governments, estimated that, in just 15 years’ time, the UK would need about double the amount we use today.
No one should underestimate the scale and seriousness of the work required to make this happen, modernise the UK economy and reach net zero. According to the CCC’s ‘balanced pathway’, renewable energy will do much of the heavy lifting with offshore wind increasing six-fold from 15GW of capacity to 88GW by 2040.
However, this would be accompanied by “storable forms of energy including nuclear”, large batteries, and gas or hydrogen plants fitted with carbon capture and storage, its report said.
‘A new era for nuclear power’
The International Energy Agency also thinks nuclear has a future, with a report saying “multiple signs point towards a new era for nuclear power” which it described as a “clean and dispatchable source of electricity and heat that can be deployed at scale with round-the-clock availability”.
“It brings proven energy security benefits to electricity markets as well as reductions in emissions, complementing renewable energy,” it said, adding that global interest in nuclear energy was at its highest since the 1970s oil crises.
Yet in Scotland, the situation is very different. As UK energy minister Michael Shanks points out, while there is “enormous potential” for new nuclear reactors at existing and former sites like Torness and Hunterston, the SNP’s “absurd ideological position against nuclear” is standing in the way.
The movement against nuclear power began in a very different time, long before climate change was recognised as the serious threat that it is, and the everyday use of computers, smartphones and AI.
All those who oppose it, and not just the SNP, need to seriously consider whether they are continuing to do so more out of political nostalgia than a clear-headed assessment of the facts. It may sound strange to say it, but nuclear energy is now ‘green’.
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