Public (and therefore) political option is a fickle beast...

Once the lights start going out, due to a lack of generating capacity, I'm sure there'll be calls to keep going with nuclear.

I'd dearly love there to be a viable alternative to nuclear fission in the short-to-medium term, but I can't see one. I just don't see how Scotland can afford to lose 50% of it's generating capacity.

Plants to power england seem no more.

Be interested to hear what the planned alternatives are. Very easy to say 'no' to something unpopular, doesn't seem like there are any easy answers here (N-power not popular in general, coal/oil/gas bad for greenhouse gas emissions, wind unreliable and not always popular effect on landscapes, etc etc)

#1 - spot on - the public (so far as they've thought about it) seem to believe the Green fascists that a few windmills will be able to take the strain. This ain't so, but unfortunately when the lights start going out it'll be too late, given the lead times required to construct a nuclear power station.

#3

I agree - all too easy to say no but what are the other realistic alternatives.

Why is this story still running, private enterprise will build the new nuclear power plants, as no public money will be used, scotland will be last choice for any private investment in nuclear energy!!!

Very good sir... Who is Salmond????

"The results of our survey couldn't be clearer - new nuclear power stations are not welcome in Scotland."

Send them to England. Blaire created these in 1945

British Energy has said, the high costs of transmitting Scottish electricity to cities south of the border will affect decisions on its plants.

Do we really need more Nuclear Power stations built in Scotland to supply England?

Typical SNP. No to new power stations. There will soon be nothing left up here. The introduction of the Scottish Parliament forced many Scottish manufacturing companies out of business and I can't see the SNP's policies doing anything but making things worse. Much of Scottish companies business is done in England. Alienate us and we will lose even more trade.

I remember a very successful company called NOSHEB (north of Scotland Hydro electric board) which was highjacked by Mrs Thatcher and her cronies, that successfully supplied electricity to soleley to Scotland. Douneray was a fantasy which left the beaches radioactive. OK coal was used but don't we have an energy source called oil? There are a lot of countries in the world (New Zealand, Denmark, Norway etc etc etc) which manage to run as sovereign independent states and feed, clothe and power the country. Freedom ma friends it's a sweet brew. Enjoy it.

We should never have let our nuclear industry fall by the wayside.

We wouldn't be facing half the "problems" we have today if we had kept up the nuclear program and expanded on it instead of listening to morons who know nothing.

Where is the Torness waste to be re-processed/dumped in the event of independence? I don't think England will want it.

From the tone of the article it seems any power to be produced in these new plants is primerly to supply the foriegn market while Scotland gets left with the clear up.

According to a report Scotland produces 6 times more energy than it needs.

"The review found that Scotland exports more than 10 times the oil, about six times more gas, and produces almost twice as much coal as it uses

It also said the country exports almost 24% more electricity than is needed to meet demand in Scotland, meaning the country is therefore not in the same position as the rest of the UK"

What's the betting on g brown and lab party saying this decision will cost Scots 5,000 pounds each and we'll lose 20,000 jobs

What a pity. Holyrood should form a crown corporation to take over power production ( like the Canadian Provinces ) and use the massive profits to finance some of the expenses of an independent Scotland. By producing all electric power with nuclear+wind + pumped storage+tidal the new Scottish state could free itself from the crippling negative balance of trade to purchase oil and gas. Exports to England could provide a positive balance of trade. The first step is to take over the Scottish section of the power grid ( like Canadian Provinces ) and get rid of the excessive charges to connect to it in Scotland. I really don't know what Salmond is thinking about. If you have concerns about reactor safety use the CANDU reactor which uses un-enriched Uranium. You will all live to regret this decision. From personal experience I can assure you a peat fire takes heat from you to keep itself going.

Scotland now comes with extra political risk when compared to other parts of the UK. This will inevitably affect investment and ultimately jobs.

the times they are a changin

#12 I would suggest Bute House.

The way things are going we wont be allowed to fly on holiday anymore and when we do end up having to stay at home we will all be forced to use candles as a source of lighting.

With rising fuel costs, concerns about global warming and the growing demand from the developing world, nuclear power is going to be essential.

Its a no-brainer.

#17 totally agree - this quote from British Energy is the most alarming sentence in the whole article. If this is the way big business is now viewing Scotland I fear for the future under the SNP.

#20. Surely this is an issue that affects only the nuclear sector and will not reflect the way big business in general now views Scotland. Scotland is only less attractive to British Energy because our government are making it so. Meanwhile our government is trying to make Scotland more attractive to other sectors.

#21. Yes but if you wanted to invest in the UK, why would you choose Scotland given the political uncertainty - unless the potential profits were so much higher there?

"...the high costs of transmitting Scottish electricity to cities south of the border will affect decisions on its plants."

But the cost of transmitting wind power from the Isle of Lewis to the central belt is eminently affordable?

Buy a solid fuel burner and tick yes to all the junk mail you can (from england)
Then burn it wheyhey!

I have to agree with Royster (21). It looks like the SNP are going to be more a threat to Scotland's well being than any nuclear power station.

Oh dear - all the doom and gloom merchants:
"...there will be nothing left up here in Scotland.."
"...typical SNP..."
"...when the lights start going out..."
"...business will view Scotland as unattractive..."

Get A Grip!!!

We produce more electricity than we use. Scotland has the capacity to produce electricity from Coal, Oil, Gas. Add to that wind, tide and solar if we are clever enough to get off our butts to develop them.

Typical unionist c**p. "How will we possibly cope without England telling us what to do". If you think the lights will go out and English business will flee south - then p*** off with them.

Remember that it is ENGLAND that will have to replace the deficit caused to THEIR needs when Torness goes off-line.

Lets sit back and see all the ENGLISH communities jumping up and down with glee when British Energy wants to build a Nuclear Power plant in their back gardens.

I was a proud Scotsman at one point, but alas no longer, looking up from south of the border gives you a different perspective on reality. This is just one more nail in the coffin as far as Scotland goes. There is a Scottish parliament to further tax and screw things up for you, well done for voting a real numpty in Alex Salmond as the man in charge! Scotland needs to stop viewing the world from the bottom of a glass and wake up. You need to stop blaming the English for everything under the sun, its embarrassing when you hear some of the total nonsense that comes out of total eejits. Third world here you come. I for one will be glad to pay less tax with an independant Scotland, wonder what will happen when the oil runs out? No more subsidies eh!
Wonder what other good plans my fellow jambo Alex has in store ........not many.

I'm 27 on this. Scottish Power has plans for nuclear stations but is leaving them on the shelf as the sites they need are routinely near or in areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Basically a Nuclear Generator needs to be beside the sea to deal with its voracious need for cooling water. Next it needs to be connectible to the 'National Grid' and near to the people who need it. Torness is as close to England as you can get without being in England.

BE turned down re-using the Chapelcross site even though it is already contaminated, there is a skilled work force in the area and it would have had local support. Why did they do that?

I understand from a senior manager in Scottish Power that there are plans for a Nuclear plant near Kirkcudbright at Ross Bay on the isthmus between Ross Bay and Brighouse bay. The output would go straight across the Solway to Maryport on an undersea cable.

What part of we already produce more electricity than we need do the doom and gloom merchants not get?

Westminster needs Scotland's re-useables because without them it has not got a hope in hell of meeting the EU requirement.

As for the cost of power maybe what BE actually meant was the cost of power to them if they had to buy it at commercial rates from Scotland. Anyone else see why the Spanish and Norwegians want a chunk of power production in Scotland?

Whatever happened to Hydro electricity?
We usually have enough water coming down from the heavens and the global warming bunch think we'll have more than we want in the future!

#30 I missed out hydro-electric Power from the ways we can produce electricity.

#28 You can go around apologising for being a Scot all you want. We are more than capable of producing enough electricity to meet our needs. Can you say the same for the country you now admire so much?? "I for one will be glad to pay less tax with an independent Scotland" - nailed your colours to the mast with that one.

Here we go! The Nats first tiff with London is on the horizon. The decision not to allow nuclear plants in Scotland is based on no real logic, just a sop to the Green element of the coalition. This decision, if pursued, is going to cost us all dear in the not-too-distant future. With France generating 80% of its needs through nuclear power, Scotland will be left behind, as per usual, nursing its parochial, chip-on-the-shoulder and nasty little small town grievances about anything that emanates from South of the border. If only we could see ourselves as others see us. How sad for Scotland. A basket case in all respects.

There is one English subsidy we can do without - subsidising the building of Nuclear Power Stations in Scotland - to provide England with power.

It's unbelieveable the amount of pro nuclear nitwits who are also unionists! If you hate it so much here, why stay?

We don't need Nuclear Power or Coal or Wind... go to bed when it gets dark and get up when it’s light. Wear a warm fleece and eat cold mince-rounds or salad. That's what half the giro claimants do like myself. The power generated for this PC was provided by pedalling a generator. As for TV... its propaganda crap and it rots your brain. If I need to travel further than a cycle ride then I hang-glide from the 'flats'.

Alternatively, confiscate all the GHD hair straightners.

The Sheltand times is reporting that the Crown Estates has a plan for a sub-sea cable all the way down the East Coast (within the Crown Estates 12 mile limit) to London.

So what happened to 'the high costs of transmitting Scottish electricity to cities south of the border' as per the article above'????

An attempt to pre-empt the proposed North Sea Supergrid and keep us cut off from Europe?? Looks like it.

18 May 2007
Undersea cable plan linking isles to England

http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/Shetlandtimes/content_deta...

#1 You might remember the scare stories in January about the lights going out in Scotland.
Longannet was unable to get the coal up to the surface because of an accident to it's conveyor belt.

Whatever happened to those power cuts?

Do the SNP support actually know what goes on around them. You have the same powers as the last bunch of ex councillors had. You don`t have to give planning permission, therefore there is no arguement, so don`t get your knickers in a twist. Westminster are talking 10 years down the line from now. You guys won`t have any power, so you will get in line and do as your master tells you, ok.

Has the wonder bra kid crossed the border yet? Tell
her to switch off the lights. Am going to sleep !
Am going to dream about the blue flag Dounray
beach sparkling in the dark.

Tevie Irvine Town

Why do these debates always reduce themselves to 'unionist' and 'separatist'? Do you have to support independence to love Scotland? Mikey 43 - what on earth are you on? I happen to love this country and I want to see it succeed - but I don't want independence (like the many other SCOTS).

May be some of us believe that nuclear is the way to go. It has been providing us with energy for almost 30 years - with no problems.

It produces almost 40% of our energy, as do the coal fired stations. But the coal fired stations are nearing the end of their lives, and there are no planes for new ones. Oil and gas is running out and sustainable options are not reliable.

It's the National (as in UK) grid guys and gals, the hint is in the name.
If they build a nuclear station in England we in Scotland benefit to a degree. If they build a nuclear station in Scotland, England will benefit to a degree....Wales etc etc

There is no viable altenative at the moment or for the future as we can predict it.

Poor wee Eric, typical typical. You sure your name isn`t Salmond, you certainly think the same. Read the rules fool.

The future's bright - the future's radioactive.

NO 28
The worlds not going mad it's already mad,
it's never been sane.

'British Energy has said in addition to the SNP's commitment to oppose new plants in Scotland, the high costs of transmitting Scottish electricity to cities south of the border will affect decisions on its plants'
so if we produce more than we use, in an independent scotland industry could move to scotland and no need to transmit electricity anywhere.

So, to those who want nuclear power...would you have the nuclear power station in Edinburgh?

I know I wouldn't want it anywhere near me. Scotland generates more than enough electricity. If we're running short, then we'll just have to stop exporting it to England and Northern Ireland.

As to Dounray, cleaning up the mess their is going to be a legacy that Scotland will have to deal with.

Bye bye British Energy, your neither wanted nor welcomed here by me.

Alex is actually on a lead story in the unionist propaganda sheet...

... wait a minute.....

Hello All,

Once again I must point out that until you Scots get the Enviro-Whackos under control, you'll not have a snowball's chance in Hades of making a go of it as an Independent nation.

Why should "Landscape" trump heating people's homes, lighting them, and supplying electricity to hospitals, schools, and businesses?

It's all rather like ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge) here in the States: no one but REALLY rich elitists can actually afford to go there and see the wildlife and terrain-the rest of us get to look at a map and see the acronym ANWR printed on it.

Sensible power sourcing is a must for families, business, and growth: unless you would all like to return to the Dark Ages. The next time you see a diabetic taking some insulin, or an asthmatic ingesting medicine from an inhaler, or a parapalegic in a motorized wheelchair, I strong urge you all to take a moment and realize what is at stake: our families, our peoples, and our nations.

In short, only the future of us all.

Get real and chuck the rhetoric and theory out the window people: real people have real needs-unless you've got the lolly to avoid reality.

Cheers.

#51 has a valid point. We nees to be 150% self-sufficient in nuclear power electrical production in Scotland - it the safest and most efficient means of powering a modern economy and we need to get educated and get on with it. I agree that it also represents our best option for becoming energy independent, and then politically independent.

... when the lights go out, light a bloody candle. The amount of energy that is wasted is outrageous. Scotland has LESS population than in the sixties – we don’t need more capacity.

48.why do you have to insult everyone that disagrees with you,only time will tell,so just wait and see.

9

Well youve managed to condemn the previous administrations policies and now your condemning the new administrations policies even before they have been implemented or even proposed.
What is you want?

An Interview with Garry Bushell

Are there any English people in tonight?

Can we talk a bit about what it means to be English?

A friend of mine, Cass Pennant, sent me an email on St George’s Day. I’ve still got it on my phone. It says: “There is a word that means more to me than any other, some say now a forbidden word: That word is ENGLAND!” And isn’t that right?

The English are the only people in the world who are told that it is wrong to celebrate our history and heritage. Tony Blair, who is Scottish, gave the Scots a Parliament stating rightly that they are a “proud and historic nation”. But his Deputy, John Prescott, who was born in Wales, is on record as saying “There is no such nationality as English.” Have you ever heard anything so absurd?

Prescott and Blair tried to chop England up into nine regions, with expensive talking shop assemblies, regional flags and identities; all the better to ram us into the Euro-mincer. Voters rejected them but they’ll keep on trying. Blair has a vested interest in denying the English our own parliament of course – he’d never get elected in England. But this disdain for everything English that infects our rulers runs deeper than that. George Orwell, the great patriotic socialist, detected it back in the 1930s when he wrote that "England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their nationality."

Partly this was down to the guilt of Empire, and partly it stemmed from the influence amongst the Oxbridge elite of a powerful group of traitors who preferred Stalin’s Russia to their own country. Now their descendents want to dissolve us into the EU after falling out of love with a succession of foreign tyrants from Castro to Mao to Osama Bin Laden via the Irish Republican Army. It’s the Guardian mentality: England is always in the wrong, no matter what murderous rogue we are up against. But are they right? In fact the English have far less to be as

lia

There is no thing as Great Britain, unless you are scottish, welsh or irish. England seeks to govern through a population majority and to impose remote policies on other nations in Great Britain. How can Scots/Welsh/irish have an equal say under those circumstances. How can England say it is being statesmanlike by threatening Scotland and its free voice because England does not like what it hears. The following statement defines everything that is wrong with England, Many english people know nothing about Scotland truely, be it political economic or sporting, they also cannot understand why many Scots say they are britsih first and scottish second!!!!!

57. the only one threatening scotland is gordon brown,himself a scot,nothing to do with england!

57 There, Lia, we agree.

But, wait, what is that strange urge to plant a Yoonion flag in me garden, and salute it every day, whilst singing 'Come like a torrent rush...rebellions Scots to crush, all the while fondling a photo of the British Fitba Team. .... .... mmm.... nooo.....must have been a bad pie!. ...goes off to lie down in dark room.

must take the time to find out more about the Campaign for a English Parliament and the English Democrats.

59,Derick. you shetlanders always did have a good sense of humour,hows things on unst these days

I'm no fan of Nucler wither it's power or bombs I came across this intersting guide on the bbc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2003/nuclear_fu...

#58. lia: Gorden Browns a Puppet his strings or remote control is kept in Westminster.

Gorden Brown is a trater too the people & too him self (he's turned his back on what was once his belifes) and one of the few Scots left who would drap the Union Jack over himself to get pubisity.

Nuclear Power stations are here to stay for another quarter of a century (according to the SNP who have now backed down - after coming to the conclusion overnight that they didn't actually know what they were talking about).

So it looks like the SNP actually had no Energy Policy afterall.

Is this the first election manifesto pledge they have not delivered on and remitted it to some future Administration some 25 years in the future? Lovely.

63 Note to Me... You really couldn't make this up, it's just too funny. :-)