The case for nuclear power in a Green New Deal

This year’s Labour conference, starting in Brighton on Saturday, will take decisions covering key policy areas. Among the most important is the need to develop policies that help us to address the issue of climate change. Around half of the electricity generated in the UK is from burning fossil fuel. The other half is neatly divided between renewables and, to a slightly lesser extent, nuclear energy.

Labour’s green industrial revolution intends to hasten the end of the burning of fossil fuels, which means that viable alternatives must be developed. Energy production from wind, tide, hydro and solar must be effectively harnessed to achieve our policy. But wind and solar have limitations, and we are currently unable to store large quantities of electricity. We need a ‘non-weather dependant’ source of reliable, proven electricity production. That vital part of our ‘energy mix’ can and should be provided by nuclear power as we strive to hit our ambitious carbon reduction targets.

At present, one fifth of our electricity comes from nuclear reactors, where uranium atoms are split up to produce heat, using a process known as fission, yet the 15 nuclear power stations produce almost no greenhouse gasses. It is estimated that to replace this existing nuclear industry with wind farms would require the entire coastline of the UK to be surrounded by wind-farms three miles wide.

If we don’t want to burn fossil fuels, a new generation of nuclear power stations needs to be built. Right now, only Hinkley C in Somerset is being constructed. In my constituency of Copeland, the new Moorside Power station was one of the nuclear power stations promised by the Tories but not delivered. We have an experienced workforce with a strong ‘nuclear culture’ already at Sellafield, and Moorside is an obvious location for a new nuclear power station.

This lack of investment in the nuclear sector is a grave mistake if we wish to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions. However, the massive infrastructure input needed can only come from government, and one committed to long-term strategic planning, not a short-term profit-driven one.

The market will, at best, plan for a five-year return on profit, which can never provide the necessary capital for nuclear investment. This is exactly why investment hasn’t happened under a Conservative government so bent on short-termism and the mantra of ‘private good, public bad’. Only a Labour government with a National Investment Bank responding to specific regional needs and a clear commitment support nuclear power can provide the investment and guarantees to make this sector successful and help us achieve those carbon reduction targets.

We need electricity production that is free from the burning of fossil fuels. Conference delegates should support a balanced combination of renewables and nuclear power as the way forward for Britain and for Labour.