A Place to Stand

Radio Scotland rang me today & I spoke for a couple of minutes on nuclear power (I presume they were running through old emails or phone calls on previous phone-ins to find vox populii) (9.25AM ish). I may have spoken a bit fast but I got most of it out & managed to rubbish Alex Salmond's advocating burning more gas (it produces CO2 which violates Kyoto) & pointed out that an offshore windfarm he claimed would produce 1000MW (same as a nuclear power station) would only produce at best an average of a quarter of that because of wind variability.

Gary, the MC, also asked about disposal & I said that all the world's reactor waste, a cubic metre per reactor year, could, after 50 years, go into a 100M cube & would, because of the short half life of reactor waste, be down to a fairly safe level by then.

He also mentioned the ridiculous one about nuclear producing CO2 when you pour concrete to build them & I replied that at up to 1000 tons of concrete in the foundations of each windmill they produce proportionately more.

I also got in that we are going to have massive blackouts when Hunterston closes in 2011 & that nuclear costs only 2.3p a unit.