Labour’s plan for siting small nuclear reactor plants around the country (Keir Starmer unveils plan for large nuclear expansion across England and Wales, 6 February) feels almost like something Donald Trump would come up with. The reality is that they would not be small – for example, the system being developed by Rolls-Royce is 470 megawatts, larger than most of the old, now closed, magnox reactors that were built in the UK in the 1960s.
And they will not be cheap – even backers, like the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, have admitted that they “could have higher costs per MW compared to gigawatt-scale reactors”. And there would be a range of safety- and security-risk issues with local deployment, adding to the cost – nuclear plants are usually located in remote sites. Will many people want one near them? By comparison, with costs falling, public support for renewables, like solar and offshore wind, has never been higher.
David Elliott
Emeritus professor of technology policy, the Open University
• So Starmer is going to sweep opposition aside in his shortsighted push for more nuclear power. Two good reasons why no nuclear power stations have been built since Sizewell B are the exorbitant cost and the impossibility of safe disposal of nuclear waste.
The nuclear industry is very good at promises, but poor on delivery. The size of nuclear power stations increased to get the savings of scale. We now see the nuclear industry rehashing technologies that were long abandoned because of cost or because the technology was too difficult.
Unbelievably, Sizewell C is progressing at pace and has been for two years, despite no investment decision having been made and an inadequate supply of water. We must not forget that the result of the inquiry recommended refusal of the development consent order application, but was overridden by the minister of state.
Arthur Stansfield
Wickham Market, Suffolk
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