20131021_R2

Source: BBC Radio 2

URL: N/A

Date: 21/10/2013

Event: Stephen Thomas: nuclear expensive but "solar panels are getting much cheaper"

Credit: BBC Radio 2

People:

• Anthony Birchley: BBC journalist and announcer
• Professor Stephen Thomas: Professor of Energy Studies, Greenwich University

Anthony Birchley: BBC News, it's 6 o'clock. This is Anthony Birchley. The UK's first UK power plant to be built for a generation is set to be approved by the government, this morning. The French-owned energy firm EDF is leading a consortium to build the Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset. But Steve Thomas, who's Professor of Energy Studies at Greenwich University says nuclear power is expensive.

Stephen Thomas: If you contrast that with the renewables, where the cost curve is going down very steeply - solar panels are getting much cheaper, wind farms are getting cheaper - nuclear seems a very expensive option. And, in the past, we've decided against pursuing nuclear power, and that's really why we lost our capability, because the fundamental economics weren't very good.