Britain's new Energy Secretary suffering from the 'nuclear fusion delusion'

Christina Macpherson

Oct 7

In his speech to the 2022 Conservative Party Conference, the Britain's
newly-appointed Energy Secretary has shown that, like those in office
before him, he too is suffering from the 'fusion delusion'.

To the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), the condition represents a mistaken
belief in someone in high political office that fusion can address the
nation's future energy needs by providing access to cheap, green power in
defiance of the reality that the technology is far from being
scientifically certain, far from being economically viable, potentially
unsafe, too costly, and still comes with a legacy of nuclear waste – and
that it will in any case come decades too late to address Britain's
immediate energy / cost-of-living crisis or the urgent need to curb carbon
emissions to arrest the worsening climate emergency.

In his first conference speech as Energy Secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg lauded the merits of
fusion energy and announced that a new pilot plant will be established on
the site of the former West Burton A coal-fired power plant in
Nottinghamshire describing it as a 'beacon of bountiful green
energy…proving the commercial viability of fusion energy to the world'.

NFLA 6th Oct 2022