Has the Confederation of British Industry got its head in the sand, or in the record levels of carbon-intensive concrete just poured at the Hinkley C nuclear site (Build more nuclear reactors to help climate crisis, says CBI, 28 June)? Nuclear power, apart from destroying biodiversity throughout its life cycle, produces up to 37 times the CO2 emissions of renewable energy sources, owing partly to the mining and refining of uranium. The impact of this process on people and the environment is not included in the rationale for nuclear power in the UK.
As the CBI looks for investment from abroad, UK taxpayers will pick up the bill for the likely time and cost overruns of new nuclear build under the regulated asset-based funding proposals so welcomed by the CBI. Nuclear has failed to achieve the investment needed so far because it is no longer seen as economically viable. Even Hitachi (one of the world’s largest multinationals) cannot magic Wylfa Newydd into a commercially viable business. In January this year, Hitachi announced it had failed to squeeze the UK government for the very high levels of subsidies desired by large investors upfront for Wylfa. Nobody can afford the costs or the many risks attached to building new nuclear power stations.
Linda Rogers
PAWB (Pobl Atal Wylfa B/People Against Wylfa B)
• The doctors’ letter (Doctors against climate catastrophe, 28 June) omitted two key concerns. The first is that gas escapes from previously frozen deposits could outweigh reduced human emissions, so geo-engineering may yet be necessary. The second is the need for funding for useful actions that already exist. It is no use politicians declaring a climate emergency and then lacking the backbone to deal with it. If taxes (including mine) need to increase, then so be it. If this seems overly alarmist or they are unforgivably prepared to let the world’s poor go hang, MPs should remember just how much food Britain imports and ask exactly who would guarantee our supplies if major global disruption occurred.
Iain Climie
Whitchurch, Hampshire
