While I have long regarded the Scottish Government’s attempt to veto nuclear new-build in Scotland as a damaging piece of gesture politics, I must admit to having underestimated both its absurdity and hypocrisy.
Listening to a presentation in Cumbria about the prospects for nuclear new-build in that part of the UK assisted me in my understanding.
Remember that Cumbria lies just the Solway Firth away from Galloway and, with a bit of luck, they might one day be joined by a tidal barrage.
West Cumbria very much wants to see at least one new nuclear power station built there. Long experience of the nuclear industry has removed the taboos, just as it has done in those parts of Scotland – around Hunterston, Torness, Chapelcross, Dounreay – that share the same experience.
The difference is that while the current Holyrood administration is quite happy to write off employment in these places, and make Scotland a net importer of electricity at the same time, recognition now exists in the rest of the UK that nuclear power must be part of an affordable, secure, low-carbon power supply.
But then take a look at the companies which are lining up to build new nuclear power stations in West Cumbria, almost within sight of Scotland. They include both ScottishPower and Scottish and Southern Energy, which are part of the same consortium as GDF Suez.
What representations, I wonder, have the Scottish Government made to these two companies? Its links to ScottishPower, in particular, are extremely close.
Iberdrola, which owns ScottishPower, knows how to play the political game, while Alex Salmond, having first denounced the Spanish takeover in his usual overblown terms, is now happy – in every other respect – to form a liaison of convenience with a company that wants to build a nuclear power station on Scotland’s doorstep.
The ironies continue. Far from becoming some kind of nuclear-free zone, Scotland is bristling with involvement in the civil nuclear power industry.
What are the SNP going to do about that? If nuclear power is so wicked, why would Scotland want to benefit from its trappings while putting a hex on state-of-the-art new nuclear stations?
Because of our engineering expertise, the UK’s nuclear new-build programme will offer major opportunities to Scottish-based companies.
Hopefully, they will succeed so that thousands of jobs in Scotland will become dependent on technology that is banned from use in Scotland. Are these jobs welcome or unwelcome? Salmond should tell us.
The same applies in the academic field. Scotland is a world leader in civil nuclear technology.
Strathclyde Uni versity is involved in internationally acclaimed research and even hosts a simulated control room for nuclear power stations funded by the American company, GSE Systems – the kind of control room which, if the SNP gets its way, will never again be used in Scotland.
When that project was launched, Jim MacDonald – now principal of the university – declared: “These investments underline Scotland’s reputation as a worldwide leader in nuclear and power engineering research, innovation and training.”
That is the reputation that the SNP administration is hell-bent on destroying in pursuit of its own prejudiced agenda.
It might deny this by saying that we can have Scottish jobs, Scottish research and Scottish training in the nuclear power industry – just so long as we don’t have any Scottish nuclear power stations. And we can have Scottish companies building nuclear power stations – just as long as they don’t build them in Scotland.
However, these are such blatant double standards that they cannot survive for long. By definition, Scottish universities will be training high-quality people to work outside Scotland. And why should engineering companies use their Scottish facilities to service an industry which is treated by the Scottish Government like a leper?
The biggest hypocrisy of all is that we will continue to depend on nuclear power – for the time being, from both Hunterston B and Torness.
But in 10 years’ time, if Salmond gets his way, both of these will be closed, and it is a fantasy to suppose that, by that time, we will be able to rely on wind, wave and tide to power the Scottish economy.
Not a bit of it. If the Nats succeed in killing off the Scottish nuclear industry, we will very quickly be importing nuclear power from south of the border because we will need it to maintain security of supply.
This is why posturing over energy policy is attractive to some politicians. They know that they will be long gone before the consequences are felt.
Playing off nuclear new-build against renewables is another deception. In this age of climate change and carbon reduction, we need both.
In fact, we need a bit of everything, and that most assuredly includes nuclear, just as it has done in Scotland – safely and reliably – for almost half-a-century. Let’s get on with it, seize the economic benefits and abandon the hypocrisy.
Recommended for you
