A Quick Note on Nukes

So Labour have finally, finally, managed to have a crack at energy policy and declared that 10 new nuclear reactors are to be built.

Now I'm interested in what kind of reactors we're getting - we currently mainly use AGR's, and these use enriched uranium. Which could be a problem. Known uranium reserves are likely to last another 50 years or so, of course there's a good prospect of new finds, but basing your energy policy on maybes is like basing your capability to pay your bills on what you find behind the sofa.

There are other options of course, both plutonium and thorium can be used as fuels, as can nuclear waste itself. Fast breeders (we shut ours down in 94...) can actually generate more fuel and power. I just wonder if anyone has put any thought into this, we really need to start putting plans into place now if nukes are going to be a major energy source for the UK for the next century.

Personally I'd rather have seen us take a punt at an alternative or two as well as the nukes, solar updraft towers would make a better investment in Africa than some of the things the CDC and DfID spend taxpayer cash on, as well as providing some renewable fuel that's actually quite cheap (towers have minimal maintenance), of course there's the challenge of taking that energy from where you place the towers and placing it on the UK's grid... But such a plan would be for the future, and actually display some foresight as well as helping up make more friends on a continent with still quite a lot of riches to plunder.

The greens are partially correct, we do need to invest in renewables - but not at the expense of the here and now. Energy prices will rise - people like to decry Hubberts Peak Oil theory, however they apply it to the world when Hubbert's theory was only for the US, and was shown to be fairly accurate - so at some point in next few decades renewables will become feasible at their higher unit costs.

If governments going to interfere in the market, I'd rather it interfered in something it could sell off in the future.