Wycombe Liberal Democrats

I am saddened but not surprised by the announcement today that the government is going to back more nuclear power stations for Britain. We in the Liberal Democrats believe that this is a flawed decision based on a sham consultation. Last year, we set out our research which showed that we could achieve a 94% reduction in carbon emissions without resorting to nuclear power. Nuclear leaves a legacy of dangerous waste that our descendants will have to deal with for generations to come. Not only that, but we believe that the focus will be diverted from developing better and cheaper renewable energy as well as energy saving initiatives. We believe that we can reach our targets by bridging the gap with carbon capture technology:

Carbon capture allows continued use of gas and coal fired power stations, which are flexible in output. That means that they are ideal to use in conjunction with some forms of renewable power, such as wind power, that are themselves not very flexible (or at least flexible in only one direction). Nuclear power, in contrast, is difficult and costly to use flexibly and thus puts barriers in the way of renewable energy.
Both carbon capture and nuclear power produce waste and both forms of waste have their risks, but the waste produced by nuclear power is far more dangerous than CO2.
Carbon capture, unlike nuclear power, is not an inherently dangerous technology using inherently dangerous materials that have military or terrorist uses. It thus poses no risks for proliferation and does not require an extensive and costly security apparatus to protect it.
The risks associated with nuclear accidents are so great that the industry has needed a vast hidden subsidy in the form of a cap on liability to be viable. Carbon capture will not need such hidden subsidies.
Carbon capture and storage is a technology in which Britain is in a position to take a lead, especially using skills developed in the North Sea, whereas nuclear power can only go ahead on the basis imported technology.
In terms of security of fuel supply, nuclear power uses an entirely imported form of fuel, namely uranium, whereas carbon capture will allow the continued use of a domestically produced fuel, namely coal.