Note on first letter:
Nuclear new build & Dungeness, Kent. It was in response to an article 2 weeks ago which reported that Ashford's MP Damien Green (Con) was not bothered either way whether a Dungeness C was built and Folkestone's Michael Howard was 'fence sitting' on it (as ever). Dr Steve Ladyman (Lab-Thanet South) has been talking up the idea of a C station.
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Dear Sir.

Whether or not the Kent MP's in your report give support, equivocal or fully, to any new round of Nuclear Stations, the facts remain both environmentally and economically against the idea.

Locally, despite the speculation about the building of a Dungeness C station, it is very likely that the whole of Romney Marsh will begin to flood within the next 50 years or so and thus it would be very dangerous to consider any such construction. It would take upwards of 10 years to build anyway and copious amounts of CO2 would be released during this phase from the construction process. There is also the fact that the cheaply available sources of uranium around the world are likely to run out over the next 50 years, sooner if the UK and elsewhere indulge in a new series of stations.

As regards the current Dungeness A and B stations, these will take over 100 years to fully decommission and likely cost well over £2-3 billion to do so. (Currently £1.2 billion for the A station alone as from the end of 2006). Further, as the Marsh floods, it is highly likely that a huge coffer dam would need to be built around them with a long causeway contructed to link it to dry land for maintanance costing further millions.

There are further problems in that after the second rail crash on the Marsh of a train carrying spent fuel two years ago, there were promises of track renewal and road crossing barriers along the Lydd spur rail line to prevent any further such accidents. So far, apart from some track renewal, the barriers have not been put in place and neither has an extra set of points at Ashford International been considered to allow the flasks to be taken through there avoiding the platforms which they do not at present. All of this further adds to the costs of decommissioning and to the whole industry. It is also largely the UK taxpayer who has had to and will pick up the bills for all of this and the on-going processing and storage of the current and any future highly dangerous nuclear waste.

It is thus still far more likely that investing in the various renewable energy sources, along with greater energy efficiency, will provide a much cheaper way of providing for our future energy needs than any new round of nuclear power.

Yours sincerely.

RD, Folkestone.



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2) second N power letter.

'A question of power.'

I would be interested to know if Friends of the Earth and the environmental groups are aware that new generation power stations will not be using uranium as a source of fuel.

In future, helium-3 will be used, as there is virtually no pollution or radioactivity from this compared with uranium-derived power.

I am not convinced wind-generated power is sustainable, due to recent climate changes, nor do i see it as economically viable.

Sources such as these or tidal generated power are unlikely to do little more than supplement new-style nuclear generated energy.

RP, Sandhurst, Kent.

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