| Nuclear is key for UK's emissions targets | | Print | |
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NUCLEAR POWER must be at the heart of the battle against climate change and central to the UK’s emissions targets, said industry chief Keith Parker. Speaking after the release of government figures showed Britain’s carbon emissions rising by an estimated 1.25% last year the Nuclear Industry Association’s chief executive called for greater recognition of nuclear’s role in combating climate change. Provisional figures released by DEFRA show UK’s carbon emissions rising despite a mild winter and concerted efforts to curb them. The department cited increased use of coal due to soaring gas prices. But Keith Parker said it was “time to re-assess our energy mix and ensure that nuclear is retained as a major part of our energy future.” “It is very worrying to see our carbon emissions rising in this way. It underlines even more the importance of nuclear’s contribution in powering our economy with low-carbon electricity.” “Some 60 million tonnes of CO2 are avoided every year by our nuclear fleet but these power stations start to close soon and we will need to replace them to have any chance of meeting our climate change objectives,” he added. Britain’s nuclear power stations supply 20% of the UK’s electricity and are carbon-free when they generate, but nuclear’s contribution could fall to just single figures in a decade if new plant doesn’t come on line. Carbon emissions could rise even further if fossil-fuelled power stations were needed to cover this loss of the current nuclear stations. “It is vital we recognise that nuclear is our only large-scale source of low-carbon electricity. It is clean, reliable and not subject to massive price hikes. It is part of the solution when it comes to climate change and these new figures bear that out.” “Of course we need much more renewable energy and a step-change on energy efficiency, but we need to realise that our aspirations for a low-carbon economy must be built on solid foundations with nuclear at the centre.” Comments (0)
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