Politicial parties must address nuclear power

Gina Davidson has given a comprehensive analysis of the Ipsos MORI poll (Scotsman, February 26).

The poll predicts that the SNP will win 72 of the 129 seats at Holyrood. This prediction causes me great concern as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and now must urgently tackle the climate emergency.

Both the SNP and Green Party support a target of reaching net zero carbon emissions in Scotland by 2045. Unfortunately these two parties are opposed to nuclear energy and will block any planning application for such plants.

Without nuclear capacity, Scotland will become dependent on electricity from nuclear and gas generation plants in England and Wales, and is unlikely to achieve net zero for some decades.

The climate emergency policy should be the most important issue addressed by political parties before the Scottish Parliament elections in May

Because Scotland is part of the Great Britain grid system it is important to realise that to meet net zero, the electricity output in GB will have to increase by over 100% by 2040 from 35 GW to approx. 72 GW.

All credible experts advising on energy make clear that nuclear power is the only carbon-free energy source that can reliably deliver power at any time and has been proven to work on a large scale.

These experts find it hard to imagine in the future how, not only Scotland and Great Britain but other major industrial countries, will decarbonise their power grids affordably without increasing nuclear power.

In my opinion it is important that political parties make clear to the electorate how, when and at what cost they hope to achieve net zero, keeping in mind that without including nuclear energy in their proposals, they will not merit your vote to ensure affordable electricity in Scotland and the future of our planet.

C SCOTT Mortonhall Road, Edinburgh