Today I managed to catch up with Friends of the Earth Scotland who had set up their "Nuclear White Elephant" in Edinburgh. They were out campaigning against the creation of a new generation of nuclear power stations, and I have to say I totally agree with them. And not only do I agree with them, but so do the people of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth according to our survey returns.
As I have mentioned before on the blog we have been busily delivering surveys across the constituency and one of the questions we have asked is whether or not people believe that new nuclear power stations should be constructed. And they have delivered a resounding no to such a suggestion. 66.3% of those who responded were against with a mere 14.2% for (the remaining 19.5% said that they don't know).
I'm with them on this one. Nuclear power is hugely expensive and leaves us with radioactive waste that will pollute for hundreds of years to come. It is also unnecessary given that in Scotland we produce more power than we consume.
Far from building new nuclear power stations we should be investing in Scotland's renewable energy potential. The power of wind, wave and the Sun (no jokes about the power from the latter being negligible in Scotland please!) should be harnessed.
We have the potential to be world leaders in green sources of energy. For the benefit of our environment we should take it as well as the benefits to our economy this can bring.
