Nuclear power is not the way forward - sponsored by CND

No other technology in common use has as great a destructive potential as nuclear power. Reactor accidents such as at Chernobyl can pollute whole continents for decades – hundreds of British farms still have to still be monitored due to the fallout 20 years on. Those wishing to cause maximum loss of life and disruption would see attacking a nuclear power station as an attractive option. Risks can be minimised, but whilst a disastrous incident at any other type of power station would be very localised, the scale of devastation due to a nuclear accident could make a large area uninhabitable for generations.

Branding nuclear power dangerous because of Chernobyl is a flagrant misreprentation of the realities.

The Chernobyl disaster took place at a time when our understanding of nuclear issues was much lesser than it is now, and was the result of poorly trained staff in the plant's control room, the result of cut backs in spending by the Russian authorities. The UK's power stations are better staffed, better maintained and better understood, and because the effects of an attack upon them are acknowledged, they are better defended and monitored by the armed services.

Beyond this, our understanding of nuclear power plant design has improved greatly in the last 40 years. New plants can be made passively safe, that is, designed to stop reactions unless human interaction promotes them. Older generations of reactors lacked this feature and would continue to promote reactions unless human actions inserted graphite control rods to shut them down. No system can be 100% safe, but solid design principles can minimize risk. The question is, is the slight risk of a nuclear accident a worse danger than the inevitable climate catastrophe that awaits us? 
 
In addition, the use of nuclear power reduces our foreign energy dependency, and provides a sustainable supply until renewable sources become cheaper and easier to implement in large amounts. There are greater dangers in the current climate from the global scramble for fossil fuels, which has seen conflicts across South America, Africa and, recently, Eurasia both flaring up because of oil and threatening our supply because of the disruption it causes.causes.