THE head of a new climate-change body that will advise the Scottish Government has disagreed with Alex Salmond's decision not to build nuclear power stations.
Lord Adair Turner, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, said he thinks all options for providing electricity should be left open, including the creation of new nuclear power plants.
The First Minister is strongly opposed to new nuclear s
tations, and has ruled out any new plants.
Speaking to The Scotsman ahead of a visit to Scotland on Monday, when he will give a talk on climate change, Lord Turner said: "It is an emotive issue, but at the UK level, there will be a commitment to nuclear. We think it should not be ruled out.
"The Scottish Government has to make its own decisions, but we think the challenge of dealing with climate change is so big that we should be very wary of ruling out any option that is available."
The Scottish Government is aiming to rely on a mix of renewables and "clean" fossil fuel power stations – which use technology to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions – to provide the country's electricity.
However, Lord Turner warned that this approach was dependent on the carbon capture and storage technology actually working. It has not yet been proven on a commercial scale.
"What we simply don't know is how complicated it is and what the costs are at a large scale," he said. "That's why we believe it's important to keep all the options going.
"Certainly, if carbon capture and storage worked out much more costly than the best estimates now suggest, then it would be difficult to rule out new nuclear."
Lewis Macdonald, the Scottish Labour energy spokesman, agreed with Lord Turner, and called on the SNP government to rethink its position.
"If we are looking at the kind of low- carbon energy production that we need in future years, it makes absolutely no sense to rule out new nuclear. Carbon capture and storage might produce low-carbon electricity, but we don't know yet.
"What the SNP are at risk of doing is making us reliant on nuclear power from south of the Border, while maintaining a superficial stance of being free of it north of the Border."
However, Mr Salmond said yesterday that the UK government's "obsession" with nuclear power was taking billions of pounds away from clean energy sources.
"Anything you invest – and it will be billions – in nuclear power is billions taken away from clean technology and in renewable technology," Mr Salmond told First Minister's Questions.
Jim Mather, the energy minister, added that renewables backed up by "clean thermal baseload" could meet Scotland's energy needs many times over and create thousands of jobs.
"Scotland doesn't want or need dangerous and unnecessary new nuclear power stations, a view backed by parliament and Scots across the country," he said.
"The risks and soaring costs of decommissioning and the unresolved problem of storage of radioactive waste will burden future generations for thousands of years."
Swedes plan new age of atomic powerSWEDEN yesterday scrapped a 30-year ban on new nuclear power stations.
MPs decided new nuclear reactors were needed, reversing a pledge made in 1980 to phase out the country's existing stations.
Sweden has joined a growing list of countries reassessing nuclear power as source of energy.
The UK government, France and Poland are planning new reactors and Finland is building Europe's first new atomic plant in more than a decade.
Swedish public opinion polls have shown growing support for nuclear energy due to the lack of alternatives to replace the country's ten nuclear plants, that supply about 50 per cent of the country's electricity.
Maud Olofsson, leader of the Centre Party, said: "I'm doing this for the sake of my children and grandchildren. I can live with the fact that nuclear power will be part of our electricity supply system in the foreseeable future."
Lewis Macdonald, Scottish Labour energy spokesman, said Scotland should follow suit.
However, Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Other countries making decisions to pursue the nuclear chimera makes it all the more important that Scotland doesn't get caught up in that game."
