tomcoadyJun 5, 2023
Richard Murphy
True to form, Starmer is backing nuclear power because it’s the worst and most expensive option available https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/06/05/true-to-form-starmer-is-backing-nuclear-power-because-its-the-worst-and-most-expensive-option-available/. Is there no bad policy that Starmer will not now endorse?
The stock market is failing according to the CBI. So why don’t we just let it go?

I posted this on Twitter this morning: https://twitter.com/RichardJMurphy/status/1942861045426516103 My point is serious. The CBI is saying that the situation with regard to the UK stock exchange is getting desperate, because it is losing out to overseas markets and not attracting sufficient business. The question that needs to be asked is, why is that?...

Funding the Future
Jun 5, 2023 at 7:02amWeb
Show threadDwinleJun 5, 2023
@RichardJMurphy Just when you need a heroic personage to ride their E scooter into the frey, you get a recycled waxwork riding a two wheeled tricycle. I f🤬🤬king despair.
Show threadJulie MontoyaJun 5, 2023
@RichardJMurphy Nuclear power is still the best alternative to fossil fuels, until we get enough capacity in terms of renewables and especially storage to manage without it.
Show threadSarahEmmJun 5, 2023

@JulieMontoya20

I just can't get my head around that. Each new power station takes decades and billions to build, then lasts less than 50 years. The same finance and planning effort put into (say) wave or tidal power would surely be far more efficient?

Show threadJulie MontoyaJun 5, 2023

@sarahemmm Nuclear (which is always-on) has to be as well as renewables (which are intermittent by nature), not instead of.

We also need a massive amount of storage; which probably is going to mean a few more hollowed-out mountains.

Show threadSarahEmmJun 5, 2023

@JulieMontoya20

That was why I mentioned wave and tidal power, which are not intermittent if you place several installations carefully.

I am also amazed that one of the other solutions to intermittent power, gravity storage* is not more widely considered.

*Ffestiniog Pumped Storage has been solving the 'advert-break kettle power surge' for 40 years...

Show threadJulie MontoyaJun 5, 2023
@sarahemmm Yes, gravity storage is what I was referring to by "hollowed-out mountains".
Show threadRichard R LeeJun 5, 2023
He's #Unelectable. #Starmer.
@RichardJMurphy
Show threadPeter BrownJun 5, 2023
@RichardJMurphy   I’ve long suspected him to be a government asset
Show threadDen Spier Jun 8, 2023
@RichardJMurphy Nuclear is at least three times as expensive as other alternatives, probably more now that interest is higher (main cost is capital cost, not fuel cost). And that high cost is locked in for a lifetime of 60-70 years, while production cost of alternatives keep falling. Nuclear would gravely impair industry competitiveness.
Show threadHiggsJun 8, 2023
@RichardJMurphy do wonder how much of the motorways you could cover with PV panels (above the traffic) for the same money or how much wave power could be harnessed.
Show threadhesgenJun 9, 2023
@RichardJMurphy That would be an ecumenical matter.
Show threadex or current IDF unwelcomeJun 11, 2023
@RichardJMurphy we do need a base power for when the wind may not be enough especially in dark Winters. Big nuclear a failure (why didn’t we build replacements like the ones we built before rather than new types). Storage needs far more work especially gravity using old mines and tidal, not big dams but tapping the currents of tides. Anyone thought of testing using a defunct N Sea oil rig? Low fall rivers may not be an option with climate change.