All political parties in the UK accept that we should move away from our reliance on fossil fuels towards a much greater use of alternative energy technologies. Nuclear power is one of these but finds minimal support in the political spectrum.

The article reviews the European Commission’s Advisory Group on Energy submission to the EC’s report entitled “Key Tasks for European Energy R&D”. The ‘strength & weaknesses’ of the various ‘alternative energy’ systems (including nuclear power) are summarised and then the key R&D tasks which, if they are carried out successfully, should make the eight selected technologies significantly more attractive. However, the message here is clear enough: there are no easy options, only a range of very imperfect possibilities, despite what enthusiastic proponents of each may say.

Nuclear fission is certainly one of the most attractive options available, but the industry needs to continue to strive to eliminate the possibility of significant off-site releases, whether caused by plant failure or by human error or intention, and to prove beyond reasonable doubt the safety of high-level radioactive waste disposal.