Please find our latest news releases, responses to Government papers, general energy issues and further information on Joan Pye, founder of the JPP.
The Role of Nuclear in meeting the 2050 Climate Target
On the 24th June 2010, Duncan Rimmer of the National Grid gave a lecture at the Nuclear Institute’s Central England Branch’s AGM. His slides are recommended reading to be viewed here:
2050 Gone Green Nuclear Group June 2010
POLITICIANS NEED INDEPENDENT SCIENTIFIC COUNSEL TO AVOID WASTING MONEY ON GREEN ENERGY SCHEMES
23 March 2009: The Joan Pye project calls on the UK Government to get immediate, independent scientific counsel, as Barack Obama has done, to obtain realistic appraisals of low carbon energies and costs to avoid wasting of tax payers’ money.
The Government’s Low Carbon Industrial Strategy and the Conservative’s latest green paper both call for investment in untested, expensive technologies and costly changes to the National Grid. If these politicians had a scientific or technical background, they would see these as unviable and prohibitively expensive.
In their rush to trial carbon capture and storage why have Lord Mandelson and Ed Milliband not noticed that if CCS is such a great white hope, why has industry been so slow to invest?
Probably because just one day’s production of CO2 would need a tank one thousand metres long, twenty four metres wide (almost the whole of a three lane motor way), and ten metres high (a three storey house) for storage, so imagine decades of production. Also, as CO2 must be stored as liquid, it would have a high 800psi pressure (25 times as much as car tyres) so its release would be inevitable. And this would lead to an increase of about 3 times current electricity prices.
As for renewables, while wind, wave, tide and sun may be abundant, their chaotic and dilute nature means they would need huge installations, covering potentially whole counties, to harvest the same amount of energy a conventional power station.
Commented Joan Pye, founder of the Joan Pye Project (www.joanpyeproject.org) said: While tax revenues are so low, this is not the time to have knee-jerk reactions and make foolish, costly decisions. Investing in untested, unproven, expensive technologies, which produce more carbon than nuclear is crazy. Joan added: Most of our lighting, machinery, trains and cars can be run by low carbon electricity, as nuclear produces the lowest carbon footprint of electrical generation. The French do it now with over 80% nuclear power and cheaply too, why shouldn’t we? ENDS
NEWS RELEASE
Why Nuclear Energy can enable us to meet 2050 targets
Newbury 22 October 2008: With tough EU emissions targets announced on Friday, attention has been focused on alternative energies to minimise reliance on carbon-based fossil fuels. Yet the lowest carbon emitting fuel is nuclear – so why isn’t it included on the low carbon/renewable energy agenda and why has all the emphasis has been on “renewables”? Could it be because the mandarins in Europe did not understand its low carbon properties? Or are suffering from mis-conceptions?
While the French who have over 80% of their electricity provided by nuclear energy may make the scientific arguments, isn’t this discussion a perfect start for the new Climate Change minister Ed Milliband to get his teeth into?
Joan Pye, founder of the Joan Pye Project, www.joanpyeproject.org, a group of scientists independent of Government and other political and commercial organizations, said: “If the UK Government goes ahead to produce over 40% of its energy using clean nuclear technology, we could then have all the power we needed for industry and use our emissions quota to cover road transport.”
40% of nuclear power would be needed to cover the base load required by the national grid to be ‘always available’, while renewable or more nuclear energy could contribute to peak load to meet higher demand.
Joan Pye added: “If we also electrified our trains (again like the French) to reduce our carbon footprint and incentivized home owners to move over to storage heaters, we could easily meet the 2050 target of reducing our carbon emissions by 80 per cent.”
ENDS
Please find below and attached a diagram to show that Nuclear emits lowest carbon dioxide.
For further information please contact Gaye Spencer on 01635 569992 or gaye@gspr.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
EU BACKGROUND
The origin of the problem lies with those drafting the European-wide Renewables Obligation who appear to have lacked a scientific or technical background and understanding when studying minimal carbon technologies. At an early stage in their deliberations, the EU Committee made a clear distinction between nuclear energy and “renewables”, instead of regarding both as low carbon means of electrical generation. This meant that only “renewables” were accepted as the official name, so stopping the lowest of the carbon technologies, namely nuclear power, to be included in the low carbon technologies acceptable to the EC.
WHY RENEWABLES NEED FOSSIL FUEL BACK UP
Wind or solar power require an equivalent and instant back up capacity from other forms of energy generation, for every 1,200 – 1,500 wind turbines built to generate 1000Mw of electrical output (a typical power plant) you also need to build another coal/gas/nuclear plant to generate a further 800 MW of electrical output to make up the deficiencies in times of low winds and high demand.
DIAGRAM TO SHOW NUCLEAR EMITS MINIMUM CARBON DIOXIDE
If you examine the “green” qualities of each fuel by measuring the amount of carbon generated for each kilowatt hour (KW/Hr) of energy produced, taking into account the complete lifecycle of each technology, it is the nuclear option that produces least carbon, just 4g of carbon dioxide per KW/hr of electricity generated, which is half the carbon produced by wind.
Information courtesy of the British Nuclear Energy Society using data from the Government’s Energy Technology Support Unit, and confirmed by the OECD. The figures are taken over a complete life cycle of the relevant technology.
IGNORANCE AND FEAR SHOULD NOT DICTATE BRITISH ENERGY POLICY
- the truth about “low carbon energy” – a new campaign to balance nuclear debate
Fear, ignorance and misconceptions should not dictate the debate over Britain’s future energy choices argues the Joan Pye Project. Until now “green” campaigners have dominated the arguments for clean and green energy and clouded the discussion with semi-scientific opinion. So 91 year old Joan Pye, a veteran campaigner, today launches a new campaign www.joanpyeproject.org to fill the information gap and give the British public a more balanced view of the energy options available.
Joan is still the driving force behind an independent network of many physicists, chemists, and chartered engineers who have spent the major part of their careers in the nuclear industry. They believe that despite all the hype, the technology behind renewable wind energy cannot be developed in time to fill the projected energy gap. Also that the issues and flaws in the renewable argument, such as the enormous scale of wind farms, cost of subsidies, huge back up capacity required to stop the grid crashing when the wind stops blowing, have been glossed over.
The Joan Pye Project’s core team argue that nuclear offers the most affordable (no subsidies), safe, clean energy available which will help combat global warming through its sustainable and efficient “carbon free” energy production.
Passionate about the contribution nuclear generated electricity can make, Joan Pye commented at the launch: “A proper balanced scientific debate is needed to show how nuclear can be a long term solution to spiralling energy costs and solve the looming the energy gap.”
The Joan Pye Project, with its direct connections to the new Nuclear Institute, aims to educate, inform and allay genuinely held fears, while demonstrating that nuclear power is the best way forwards.
ENDS
For further information please contact Gaye Spencer on 01635 569992 to be put in touch with Joan Pye or any of her experts.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Joan Pye’s working experience at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, convinced her that nuclear power is indeed the “Energy for the Next Generation”.
The Project (JPP), which she established in 2004, generates its own funding and is totally independent of Government departments or other political organizations. JPP provides assistance and funding to students pursuing careers in the nuclear power industry and Joan is currently working with leading people in Education to produce information which can be used in schools nationwide to educate students on the science behind nuclear energy generation. Through media campaigns, papers written by its members, responses to Government Consultations and its website, it seeks to balance the energy discussion.
The core team can give unbiased, expert commentary on the following fields:
- Supply of electricity and micro-electricity,
- National Grid
- Development of fast reactors and cooling systems
- Applications of radio isotopes for engineering purposes
- Uranium supply and distribution
- Vitrification – fixing nuclear waste in glass
- Safe disposal of highly radioactive legacy waste
- Wind, tidal, wave, solar power
- Proposed Severn Barrage
- Movement and transport of radio-active material and mixed depleted uranium
- Long term storage of intermediate nuclear waste
More Information
Articles and Papers: renewables-misnomer
Technical report: nuclear-waste-report
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