The article, written by an engineer with decades of experience in the energy sector.
The main points are:
- There is insufficient scrutiny of the claims of those proposing new nuclear power plants
- The true costs of building these power plants are not properly examined
- The technology is new, and the claimed power outputs are for plants that have not been built or tested
- Hydrogen technology is likely to come on stream faster than the new nuclear plants can be built.
What I find mystifying is the lack of proper scrutiny being applied to the claims made by those members of the Nuclear Energy All-Party Parliamentary Group and its well-funded nuclear lobbyists.
It does not surprise me that they are unable to set out what configuration they favour, as the reactors which they claim will produce 400 MWs do not exist. They have not been manufactured, tested, or installed – anywhere!
As an engineer, I would be keen to ask the politicians if they have thought about some of the basic elements of a power plant.
Do they have any ideas what the thermal capacity of the proposed reactors are? Have they understood what the cooling requirements might be? How about the status of the “core catcher”, the system designed to prevent a Chernobyl-type event?
Be under no illusion, Shanks, Sarwar and the nuclear lobby are building a Potemkin village, a deceptive, impressive facade.