Nuclear power demonized for too long

by Albert Gomperts
(Belgium)

Some of you will remember that there was keen competition between Edern, near Nefyn and Wylfa on Anglesey to get the rights to the nuclear power plant.

As Mr Robyn-Lewis foresaw, the new power station would be a valuable source of employment for many years into the future.

Not long after, it became fashionable to debunk the claims of the nuclear industry by grossly exaggerating the hazards involved, and, as they say, mud does stick.

However, few of the dangers have materialized over the years. The only really serious incident with a nuclear power plant in the West was Three Mile Island, and even there nobody died and no radiation escaped.

Chernobyl in former Soviet Union was of course a different matter altogether, but let us not forget that this was a different design - lacking a containment structure - run by reckless operators in a failing USSR state.

What about the waste everybody asks?

Well, the waste from a nuclear power station is limited to roughly 1000 tons of material a year, most of it only slightly radioactive, the low level waste (LLW).

Compare this with the 10 to 20 thousand tons of fly ash produced by a coal-fired power station every year and the thousands of tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere, not to mention SO2, SO3 and NOx, which cause acid rain and respiratory problems.

No I'm all for Wylfa B and a solution to global warming that includes a nuclear component.

Albert Gomperts - formerly of Mynytho and Pwllheli

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