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Campaign group insists there is 'almost no public support for new nuclear' and calls on Jamie Stone to think again





Local MP Jamie Stone is keen to see a small modular reactor similar to this one being built in Caithness and is looking forward to discussing the idea with Rolls-Royce.
Local MP Jamie Stone is keen to see a small modular reactor similar to this one being built in Caithness and is looking forward to discussing the idea with Rolls-Royce.

A campaigner has claimed there is no need for further nuclear development in Scotland and urged local MP Jamie Stone to think again about his support for a new type of reactor to be built in Caithness.

Councillor Feargal Dalton, chairman of the Scottish Forum of Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), argued that the country is "nearing total self-sufficiency" from renewable technologies and called on Mr Stone to concentrate on bringing green energy investment to the far north.

The Glasgow SNP councillor maintained there is "almost no public support for new nuclear in Scotland".

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Mr Stone is asking Rolls-Royce to consider Caithness as a possible location for a small modular reactor (SMR) which would be around one-tenth of the size of a conventional one. The Liberal Democrat MP said earlier this month that he was looking forward to a "fruitful discussion" with the engineering giant after it agreed to discuss the idea.

NFLA highlighted figures published by the Scottish Government last June showing that the equivalent of 95.9 per cent of gross electricity consumption in 2020 came from renewable sources, an increase of 7.5 percentage points from the previous year.

The group also pointed out that in March 2021 Scotland had 11.9 GW of renewable energy in place.

“The figures speak for themselves," Councillor Dalton said. "Scotland is fast nearing total self-sufficiency in electric power based on currently available, clean, safe renewable technologies alone.

“The closure of the Dounreay, Hunterston and Torness plants will only leave the Scottish people with the costly legacy of a decommissioning and clean-up process that will take over a century to complete and the ongoing liability of managing toxic nuclear waste safely for millennia.

“The UK government seems intent upon forcing the Scottish people to pay towards the outrageous cost of foolishly developing new nuclear plants in England through the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill, but why would we want to bring more of the same to Scotland?”

Councillor Dalton went on: “I totally understand Mr Stone’s concerns about the future employment prospects of his constituents, but I would urge him to think again about his support for new nuclear and to instead get behind renewables.

Councillor Feargal Dalton says it would be foolish to bring new nuclear plants to Scotland.
Councillor Feargal Dalton says it would be foolish to bring new nuclear plants to Scotland.

“There is clearly no need, and almost no public support, for new nuclear in Scotland, and we need to tackle climate change now. The Rolls-Royce technology is unproven, and civil nuclear projects continue to be notorious for being delivered years late or at an eye-wateringly inflated cost – and there is no guarantee that the project will not eventually be cancelled because it took too long or cost too much.

“It would therefore be far more sensible for Mr Stone to devote his energies to bringing to the far north of Scotland greater investment in proven renewable technology businesses. These will deliver the well-paid, skilled and sustainable jobs that his constituents deserve, and they are what we need to make our Scottish nation 100 per cent carbon net-zero."

As reported previously, Alastair Evans of Rolls-Royce said the company welcomed the opportunity to speak to Mr Stone "and all communities that see the significant benefits that small modular reactors can bring".

He added: "Rolls-Royce SMR has been established to provide clean, affordable energy for all. It offers a low-cost, deliverable, global and investable proposition and an opportunity to help countries meet their net-zero targets."

Highland councillor Struan Mackie, who chairs the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, has said there is "no better place" than Caithness to deploy SMR technology, adding: "The opportunity must be seized now before our world-leading knowledge and skills are lost."

Rolls-Royce SMR has secured £490 million through commercial equity and UK Research and Innovation grant funding.

The company hopes to complete its first reactor in the early 2030s and build up to 10 by 2035. Rolls-Royce says each SMR power station would have the capacity to generate 470 megawatts of low-carbon energy, equivalent to more than 150 onshore wind turbines.

In October it was confirmed that the far north had missed out on the chance to host the world's first nuclear fusion power station.

A bid for the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) prototype power plant was submitted by Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership. However, the submission was not among the five shortlisted by the UK Atomic Energy Authority.


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