No case at all for nuclear power in Scotland, group of international experts say

Six academics, from universities across the UK, France, Japan and the US, argued that nuclear would cost taxpayers more money than constructing renewable alternatives.

Nuclear power contributes as much electricity in a year as renewables adds every few days, while also being hugely less efficient in tackling carbon emissions, the group said.

The group of academics includes Prof Steve Thomas, Dr Paul Dorfman, Prof MV Ramana, Prof Amory Lovins and Tetsunari Iida.

In the statement, they said after more than 60 years of commercial history, nuclear power is getting further from, not nearer to, being able to survive without massive public subsidies.

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It added that constructing new plants takes considerably longer than renewable equivalents as according to the UK Government’s Regulated Asset Base Model Impact Assessment, new nuclear takes up to 17 years for the planning, regulation, and construction of just one station.

The statement argues that the International Panel on Climate Change reported that renewables are now 10 times more efficient than nuclear at CO2 mitigation.

It reads: “Nuclear power has never been economic, and its real costs have continued to rise throughout its history. In the past, nuclear survived because electricity was a monopoly, and electric utilities could pass on the cost, no matter how high.

“The introduction of competitive electricity meant this option was lost, causing the finance market to turn away from new nuclear.”

(Image: SSE)

It adds: “The more concerned you are about climate change, the more vital it is to buy cost-effective, fast, sure, renewable options rather than expensive, slow, speculative nuclear.”

The statement also concluded that “renewables are the only technology available for a rapid transition from fossil fuels” and that nuclear power should no longer be a consideration.

Latest figures from the Scottish Government show that renewable technologies generated the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s overall electricity consumption in 2022 – which was up 26% from 2021.

According to the academic’s statement the share in energy production by renewable technologies has also considerably increased over the past few years globally.

It highlighted the fact that China is now installing wind and solar technology, which has the same energy-producing capacity to five new nuclear reactors, every week.

“With new nuclear stagnating and renewables soaring, the sober reality is that nuclear power is just too costly and too late for the climate and energy crises,” the statement said.

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The experts concluded there is no business case for nuclear going forward in the UK as it said: “We need to secure affordable, sustainable, low-carbon energy to power industry, transport, homes, and businesses.

“Since all key energy international organisations and institutes agree that renewables will do the heavy lifting for net-zero, the future backbone of the world’s power supply will be clean, green, safe, and cost-effective. Nuclear is none of those.”