NUCLEAR POWER? ARE WE MAD?

Yay, the government has announced 8 new sites for nuclear power stations, all to be built without subsidies, apparently.

What astonished me recently was discovering how basic the principles behind nuclear power are. Coal and gas power stations heat water to make steam to turn turbines to generate electricity. Nuclear power stations, er, heat water to make steam to turn turbines to generate electricity. So much for new technology.

Given that no new nuclear power station has been completed in decades due to myriad problems and that no new nuclear power station has been built - or is being built - without subsidies and that the minor issue of the growing waste stockpile which no one can do anything with for 500,000 years and that work to develop nuclear fusion - a sustainable source of power - is proceeding apace - oh, and given that a nuclear power station in Japan nearly melted down with disastrous consequences, forcing the government of Japan to set out an exclusion zone stretching tens of kilometres from the stricken nuclear plant, what on earth are Lib Dems doing promoting this outdated, inefficient and no less carbon-costly source of power - once you factor in build costs, massive decommissioning and waste storage costs, which can't simply be ignored?

As gas prices rocket and petrol becomes dearer than platinum, we surely need the government to focus minds on future technology now, rather than an expensive stopgap based on 70 year old principles - and we surely need Lib Dems to be stating this case clearly and unequivocally, lest senseless Tories have their hands clasped too tightly over their ears to hear the truth.

Would you rather have Chris Huhne parroting failed Labour government policy or standing up firmly for Lib Dem principles of investment and innovation for the long term future, regardless of the cost to coalition unity? Tough choice, huh?