Please sign the petition here and we will submit this to the Environmental Audit Committee of the UK Parliament:
We condemn the one-sided hearing on small modular rectors held by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) and call upon the EAC to organise an enquiry into the practicalities of a 100 percent or near 100 per cent UK renewable energy system
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We shall write to the EAC to complain about the one-sided oral evidence meeting on small modular reactors (SMRs) held by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) on December 13th, 2023, and the EAC’s failure to give due consideration to the possibility of 100 percent or near 100 percent renewable energy systems in the UK. We condemn the failure to include critics of SMRs in the session on December 13th.
We call upon the EAC to launch an even-handed inquiry into the practicalities of a 100 percent or near 100 percent renewable energy system given that this is much more plausible and likely than a scenario where SMRs play a substantial role in decarbonising the energy system. You can see the way that the EAC’s hearing was slanted towards support for the notion of SMRs here: committees.parliament.uk/event/20052/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/.
You can see that the only speakers at the hearing were either from the nuclear industry or had a track record in being favourable towards SMRs. Many independent analysts believe that the prospects for SMRs are bleak and built on little more than wishful thinking. The only attempt to commercialise the idea, through the Nuscale project, was abandoned as uneconomic before construction even began.
Meanwhile, the option of a 100 per cent renewable energy system is being ignored. This is even though renewable energy is rapidly expanding around the world. There is now much more electricity generated from wind and solar power compared to nuclear energy. Nuclear generation in the world has been at a stagnant level this century. On top of this, the option of continuing with fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage is simply not happening and has not even been demonstrated to be fully practical for electricity generation.
Come to our webinar on February 21st! Register through eventbrite HERE
Some details:
Leading experts will support the petition calling on the UK Parliaments’s Environmental Audit Committee to conduct an enquiry into the practicalities of a 100 percent or near 100 percent renewable energy system for the UK. That is rather than the one-sided hearing held in December for small modular reactors (SMRs).
Speakers: Dr David Toke, Director of 100 per cent renewables uk (and Reader in Energy Politics, University of Aberdeen) will give a brief outline of UK studies on 100 per cent renewables in the UK. He is author of ‘Energy Revolutions – Profiteering versus Democracy’ to be published by Pluto Press in May
Professor Mark Z. Jacobson from Stanford University in California and the world’s leading advocate of 100 percent renewable energy systems will talk about the struggle for 100 percent renewable energy and the irrelevance of thinking about small modular reactors. He is author of ‘No Miracles Needed’ published by Cambridge University Press
Professor Steve Thomas from Greenwhich University and one of the world’s leading independent nuclear power analysts will talk about prospects for SMRs. Steve Thomas was one of those who submitted evidence to the EAC, but who was not called to talk.
Alison Downes is the Executive Director of the Stop Sizewell C Campaign. She will talk about the campaign to stop the monumental waste of financial and local resources that would be caused by Sizewell C.
You will be provided with a zoom link after registering. The zoom link for the webinar will open at 17.00 on Wednesday February 21st for networking, and the speakers will begin at 17.30. You will be sent a zoom link for the event and reminders after you register for a ticket. Registration is automatically assumed to confer consent for the event to be recorded. Attendees should mute unless contributing. Questions and comments to speakers should be posted through the chat facility.
A system based on renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, and development of the electricity grid are increasingly being seen as not only practical but unavoidable as the basis for a fully decarbonised energy system. There have been massive reductions in the cost of renewable energy in the last decade. Just 7 per cent of the UK’s offshore waters would be needed to supply all UK’s energy (not just electricity) using offshore wind. See discussion here: 100percentrenewableuk.org/how-much-of-the-uk-will-be-taken-up-with-100-per-cent-renewable-energy
There have been several reports on the practicalities of a 100 percent renewable energy system. Indeed one was produced at the beginning of 2023 by 100percentrenewableuk. You can see details here: 100percentrenewableuk.org/new-report-shows-100bn-savings-with-100-renewable-energy-net-zero-plan. Also you can see a discussion of how energy storage can be organised to suit 100 per cent renewable energy scenarios here: 100percentrenewableuk.org/storage