Letters: nuclear energy is key to our future

With demand for electricity set to rocket, the UK cannot rely on renewables aloneYour business leader misses the bigger picture, as indeed do other supporters of renewable energy, such as Greenpeace ("Moorside's atomic dream was an illusion. Renewables are the way to a clean future").The bigger picture is that we can expect to see a substantial and sustained increase in electricity demand over the next 20-30 years due to the electrification of transport and heat. Heat alone, by the most conservative estimates, will add 300GW of peak thermal demand, which would add 100GW to the grid, dwarfing the current 65GW or so of peak UK demand. Yes, renewables backed up with energy storage and smart control can make an impact but a significant baseload method will still be needed. As pointed out in the late David Mackay's excellent book Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air, the least bad option of meeting this is likely to be nuclear fission. Chris Underwood, professor emeritus of energy modelling for the built environment Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne Continue reading...