London - Experts warned on Monday that wind and solar power will not be sufficient to fulfil the world’s energy needs.
Four of the world’s leading environmental scientists urged politicians and environmentalists to back the development of “safe” nuclear power plants instead.
In an open letter to climate campaigners and politicians, the scientists – former Nasa expert James Hansen, Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tom Wigley of the University of Adelaide – said relying on solar and wind power was “unrealistic”. They say that solar and wind power “cannot scale up fast enough” to deliver the amount of cheap and reliable power the world needs.
Accepting that many environmentalists are worried about the dangers of nuclear power, they argued that there was no choice other than to try to develop the technology.
“With the planet warming and carbon dioxide emissions rising faster than ever, we cannot afford to turn away from any technology,” they wrote.
“The time has come for those who take the threat of global warming seriously to embrace the development and deployment of safer nuclear power systems.”
Mr Hansen said environmentalists were misled if they believed that wind and solar power alone holds the answer to diminishing carbon reserves.
“They’re cheating themselves if they keep believing this fiction,” he said.
Last month, the British government announced the building of the first new nuclear station in the UK for a generation.
The Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset will be built by a consortium including France’s EDF Energy and Chinese investors.
David Cameron hailed the £16-billion project as “brilliant news” and backed nuclear power as a key part of energy policy.
“This marks the next generation of nuclear power in Britain, which has an important part to play in contributing to our future energy needs and security of supply,” he said. - Daily Mail