Nuclear power

There was an announcement recently* that a contract has been signed for a new nuclear power plant. What really struck me was that the government has promised a price for the generated electricity that is twice the current cost. Which should worry everyone, because it implies that the cost to us of electricity in 2023, when it takes effect, will be twice what it currently is.

I have previously commented that nuclear power was intended to be so cheap that it would not be worth metering - an idea which was very quickly disproved because of the cost of building the plant. Nuclear power is expensive, not to produce, but to prepare for and decommission.

But the truth is that this is probably not an excessive price for energy. We will have to accept the truth that energy prices will be significantly higher than they are today, unless we find new sources. We will have to deal with the fact that the provision of energy for our modern western lives will become increasingly costly.

The problem I have with this is that building nuclear power plants is not a sustainable route to provision of energy. We need to reduce our energy consumption - use less energy, even if this means that we live a less comfortable lifestyle. Even if this means we have less convenience in our lives.

But we also need to work on better - sustainable - ways of generating energy. Building nuclear power plants every 20 years is not sustainable. If we are to survive another century as a species, then we need to find better ways of supplying our needs. The current policy is short-term, and very destructive. There are better solutions, and if we are not prepared to pursue them, then we should be looking at how we can survive without power at all. That seems like a rather bleak prospect - maybe we would then look back at a time with strange windmills around as a time of joy and plenty.

*It was recent when I started writing this.