The Government seem determined to push ahead with a programme of new nuclear power stations, on the grounds that they are necessary to reduce CO2 emissions and ensure energy security. Even some "environmentalists", such as James Lovelock, have been converted to the idea that we need nuclear power to combat climate change; however, it needs to be borne in mind that Lovelock may be an expert on climate, but he is not an expert on energy technology, or on the economics of the energy industry. The reality is that nuclear power is an expensive and dangerous diversion:

• Britain can meet its energy needs, maintain energy security and tackle climate change through a comprehensive programme of energy efficiency, renewables, combined heat and power and cleaner carbon technology. See, for instance, this report and this report;

• Nuclear power is expensive and leaves a legacy of deadly radioactive waste, which remains dangerous for tens of thousands of years.  UK taxpayers are already faced with a bill of at least £70 billion to clear up our existing nuclear mess;

• Nuclear plants take a long time to build and new plants cannot be built in time to bridge the forecast energy gap, or to contribute towards meeting current targets for reducing UK CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020;

• The Government's proposed nuclear programme will divert resources away from energy conservation and renewables, which could deliver much bigger emission cuts, faster, more cheaply and much more safely:

• If we insist that we need nuclear power then we cannot deny it to other countries.  This has serious implications for the proliferation of nuclear weapons and would massively increase the likelihood of such weapons being used again, for the first time since Hiroshima and Nagasaki and perhaps against this country;

• Nuclear facilities are vulnerable in the event of war and to terrorist attack. The effects of a jumbo jet crashing into the cooling ponds at Sellafield would be horrific, killing tens of thousands and leaving much of the country uninhabitable;

• Even leaving aside the risks of war and terrorism no technology is totally immune to accidents.  If we rely on nuclear power there will sooner, or later be accidents. The same applies to all technologies, but the potential consequences of nuclear accidents are far greater. See, for instance, these pictures from the exclusion zone around Chernobyl, as a reminder.

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