THE prospect of new nuclear power plants in Scotland was reared over the weekend as politicians clashed over the best way to keep Scotland’s lights on.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland show, Tom Greatrex, the Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and Shadow Energy Minister in Ed Milliband’s cabinet said that he thought new nuclear plants would have to be part of the energy mix for the whole of the UK. When interviewer Gordon Brewer asked him if this meant new nuclear in Scotland, Greatrex responded: “Well, we’re either going to have to import it through the interconnection in England or we’re going to have build more in Scotland.”
He continued: “I wouldn’t be against new nuclear being part of the mix in Scotland, and it needs to be part of the mix across the UK.”
Mike Weir, the SNP’s energy spokesperson at Westminster claimed that the people of Scotland were against nuclear power, and said that if Labour were going to support it, then they should provide more detail.
Weir said: “If Scottish Labour are saying their policy is to build unnecessary and unwanted nuclear power stations across Scotland – with all the exorbitant costs, dangers, and unsolved problems of radioactive waste – they need to be absolutely clear about where they want to build them and how much the Scottish taxpayer is expected to pay for them. The election campaign will be the perfect opportunity for Jim Murphy to explain Labour’s Westminster-based pro-nuclear energy policy.”
Dr Richard Dixon from Friends of the Earth was sceptical of the new need. He said: “Scotland has huge natural assets when it comes to renewable energy and we are already aiming to supply 100 per cent of our electricity from renewables by 2020. Scotland should be one of the first countries in Europe to run entirely on renewable energy. Any proposals for new fossil fuel plants would be a distraction from getting on with increasing efficiency and developing the renewables.
“The last thing Scotland needs is new nuclear reactors, with their disastrous record of delays and cost overruns, as well as the unsolved waste problem. The new reactors at Hinkley Point will cost nearly £40 billion, if they ever get built.”
Greatrex was echoing comments made by Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser in a blog this weekend. The former deputy leader of the party outlined Tory thinking on the energy mix. He said: “Scottish Conservatives believe that renewable power certainly has a part to play as a component in the energy mix, but we do not share the Scottish Government’s single-minded obsession with renewable energy – particularly wind power – to the exclusion of all other technologies. And the simple fact is that intermittent energy sources cannot provide the base load that is necessary to provide electricity to Scotland’s homes and businesses at all times, to meet every demand, whether or not the wind is blowing.
“So here we have a Scottish Government putting all its eggs in the basket of intermittent wind power, it has slammed the door shut on fracking and the potential for unconventional gas, and it refuses to consent to any new nuclear plants. Within a decade, we are going to lose 55 per cent of our electricity generating capacity, and there is simply no strategy from the SNP government as to how we are going to keep the lights on after 2025.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Ministers have always been clear that the Government’s renewables target does mean Scotland will be dependent on renewables [in a] generation. Renewables will form part of a wider, balanced electricity mix, with thermal generation continuing to play an important role.
“The Electricity Generation Policy Statement, published in 2013, anticipated the scheduled closure of older fossil fuel plants and the construction of a minimum of 2.5GW of replacement efficient fossil fuel electricity generation progressively fitted with carbon capture technology.
“Scotland exported 28 per cent of the power we generated in 2013 and we will continue to deliver large amounts of electricity exports after Longannet ceases production.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Greens said that too much energy was being wasted and the government and other political parties needed to commit to teaching the country how to be more environmentally aware. A spokesperson said: “Energy efficiency should be a national infrastructure investment priority. Meanwhile the opportunity of Scotland’s abundant renewable energy resources is at risk from the distraction of new nuclear and fracking. The Coalition is gung ho for fracking, while the SNP and Labour are still failing to rule it out.”
The spokesperson continued: “Our vision for energy-efficient housing and growth in renewables means highly skilled well-paid long-term jobs. Those who want to extend the lives of nuclear plants or build new ones are in denial about the reality of the costs of nuclear and its toxic legacy.”
In a comment to The National, Greatrex said: “In Scotland, we have an increasingly imbalanced energy mix which means we now rely on importing power from England and Wales when the wind isn’t blowing and demand is high – for part of one day in six.
“If Ibedrola do not invest to make Longannet compliant with clean coal rules, that imbalance will be starker still.
“40% of the power generated in Scotland comes from nuclear stations at Hunterston and Torness, both of which are set to close by 2023.
“If we are serious about decarbonising energy supply then we will need low carbon baseload power. And If that is not provided in Scotland it will have to be imported from the rest of the UK.”
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