New nuclear could be too late and too expensive | Nuclear energy

The brand new nuclear renaissance on which you report ((Tide is popping in Europe and past in favour of nuclear energy, 1 June) could properly develop into just like the final frail one attributable to a set of inconvenient truths.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change studies that renewables are actually 10 occasions extra environment friendly than new nuclear at CO2 mitigation; 92.5% of all new energy capability added worldwide in 2024 was from renewables, with new nuclear nearly nowhere; new nuclear builds are vastly over-cost and over-time; giant reactors on supply are the identical ones supplied 25 years in the past – no new designs have been developed this century; since all small modular reactors are within the design stage, trade forecasts have to be handled with scepticism; and waste, proliferation and siting issues are all deeply unresolved.