124 billion reasons for independence

Charles Scott (Herald Letters, July 22) is wrong. The last thing Scotland needs is more nuclear power.

First, nuclear power means higher, not lower, electricity prices. Hinkley Point C , the ‘most expensive power station in the world’, is costing 3 times its original £18b estimate and has been delayed 14 years. Sizewell C’scosts have more than doubled and will add £67 to annual electricity bills plus it’s 6 years late. 

EDF which owns both has had a string of failures and its share price has tumbled in recent years. So, in 2022 the French government decided to renationalise EDF because it’s the only way to lower energy prices. (Don’t expect English Labour to take note.) 

Second, nuclear power is dangerous. East Lothian’s Torness reactor has at least 46 cracks in the graphite bricks around the reactor’s radioactive uranium fuel. The UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said the cracks could lead to debris inhibiting the cooling of hot radioactive fuel causing a reactor meltdown and releasing radioactivity into the environment. Torness was to close in 2028, but EDF wants to push this to 2030, which campaigners have charged would be “gambling with public safety.”     

Third, there’s no safe waste disposal method. Nevertheless, the UK government is blasting the Solway Firth and the Irish seabed, already polluted with 60 years of radioactive discharge from Sellafield, in a damaging and fruitless search for a storage place.

Fourth, Scotland doesn’t need nuclear. In 2021, Scotland sent 35 TWh of energy to England worth £600 billion, enough to power Scotland’s 2.5 million homes 3.5 times over. By 2030, we’ll generate 124 TWh of cheap and clean renewable energy worth £2.12 trillion at today’s prices. 

As Kenny McAskill put it, that’s 124 billion reasons for independence.