Beyond Nuclear - Scotland´s Energy Options

Hunterston B power plant was shut down earlier this month amid fears regarding temperature controls. This shut down comes within only a few weeks of the plant reopening following the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) concluding that the plant should be allowed to operate once more. Hunterston B had been shut for almost 6 months to allow repairs to be carried out for cracked heat exchangers. Ironically, in its periodic safety review, the NII provisionally stated that both Hunterston B and its sister plant Hinkley Point B power station, would be allowed to extend their lives from 2011 to 2017. This was on the proviso that the plants invested 4.5m on upgrading and repairing their premises.

The decision to provisionally extend the lives of these power stations may need to be reconsidered in light of this further shut down. Currently nuclear power accounts for about 40% of all electricity generated in Scotland. The question arises of what Scotland would do to fill the deficit in electricity should Hunterston B close in 2017, 2011 or sooner.

Nuclear - the Scottish position

The new Scottish Government have indicated that Scotland can and ideally should phase out nuclear power. While most energy-related powers remain reserved to the UK Government, some powers have been devolved, such as the promotion of renewable energy, energy-efficiency and micro-generation and the issuing of planning consents. This means that a proposal to build a new nuclear power station in Scotland would need the consent of the Scottish Ministers. A Scottish Government statement indicated their approach, "If an application were to be submitted for a new nuclear power station that would be for Scottish Ministers to determine. We would be obliged to look at it - but given our policy position, our generating capacity, our multiplicity of energy sources and our strong alternative strategies such an application would be unlikely to find favour with this administration".

The new Scottish Government opposes nuclear power for a variety of reasons. Safety concerns are paramount, with fears of a terrorist attack or nuclear accident if further nuclear power stations are built. In addition the claimed cost and environment benefits of nuclear power are also questioned. While nuclear power was once heralded as being 'too cheap to meter', a recent energy review commissioned by the SNP states that when considering clean-up costs nuclear power ceases to be cheap, with some 90 billion...