So Hartlepool is confirmed as one of the potential sites for the next generation of nuclear power plants. My guess is that most local residents will welcome this news, as they will regard guaranteed employment in a jobs blackspot as a price worth paying for the (very low) risk of problems at the power plant.
I guess some people will be up in arms about this, but my bet is still that local people want this plant. It’s interesting how we balance risk. I understand that the statistics show that more people die in extracting coal and gas than die from nuclear power plant accidents. But it’s human nature to worry more about a catastrophic nuclear explosion (and the resultant radioactive fallout) than the steady and regular death of miners. (It probably doesn’t hurt than nowadays our coal is imported from the developing world).
One point of confusion, however. Are the Conservatives who say that this decision should have been made 10 years ago, the same Conservatives who said only 2 years ago that it could only ever be a ‘last resort‘ and that we have to “explore every conceivable method of generating electricity before we go to nuclear“?
