Letter David Lowry: I admire the vigour of James Lovelock (“He’s 99 and one of our greatest thinkers”, Aug 14). But for a man prepared to think outside the box, he is surprisingly old-fashioned when it comes to his fervent support for nuclear power. He dismisses those who take a more critical view of nuclear as “outrageous hypocrites” of the green movement who base their misperceptions on “so many lies”. I have studied nuclear energy professionally for 40 years. Lovelock is misguided to assert that nuclear can be used as a bridging energy technology while we “make our minds up about other things to do” (to provide energy services). He overlooks the fact that generating electricity using nuclear power creates radioactive waste, some of which remains radiotoxic and hazardous to the biosphere for hundreds of thousands of years. That’s a bridge having to carry a very heavy legacy load.
Times 16th Aug 2018 read more »