We are doing series building. The existing Hinkley Point is two reactors built in series, and these will be another two built in series. That is four, so that is not bad—and they are large reactors, double the size of the existing PWRs. You get what you pay for. You will get an enormous amount of reliable, secure and clean electricity that will be the backbone of our grid. It will flex to allow us to accommodate huge proportions of renewables, and it will be a system where we can produce hydrogen from nuclear. There is absolutely nothing for one to be concerned about in this proposal. I am a fan of alternative reactors; there are other ways of doing nuclear that are inherently safe and would not have led to the Fukushima accident, because they could have been designed differently. However, I ask the noble Lord: how many other reactors sustained themselves through that tsunami? It was unprecedented—10,000 people lost their lives—yet there was only one reactor problem, because it did not allow a release of pressurised air with water and vapour. That was what went wrong, not maintenance. There was a political call, and the reason for that was the world’s media focusing on it because of the radiophobia that has been spread, I am afraid, largely by the green movement over the last 30 years.
Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Baroness Worthington
(Crossbench)
in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 8 March 2022.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Committee proceeding on Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
819 c427GC 
Session
2021-22
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords Grand Committee
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2024-01-05 14:27:09 +0000
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