Westminster Hall: Tuesday 17 March 9.30am
David Anderson MP: UK energy policy and the role of coal
Mr David Anderson: We live in very strange times. Everybody wants to be green and to have clean power, but, at the same time, everybody wants more power, more gadgets, fridges the size of wardrobes, air conditioning, ice for their drinks, and to drive 4x4s. There is huge demand, but, at the same time, resources are dwindling. Newcastle university supplied me with figures showing that production of oil and gas in the North sea reached its peak in about 1999. Global production is projected to peak between 2017 and 2021, and BP's own estimate is that oil will have depleted by 2050 and gas by 2070.
So, we turn to nuclear. But building and decommissioning nuclear plants is very carbon-intensive, and even if we get everything right-including transportation, construction and decommissioning-about nuclear, and that is a big if, one thing that strikes me is that figures, again supplied by Newcastle university, show that there are estimated to be only 50 years' worth of viable uranium reserves in stable countries-in Canada and Australia, in particular. Beyond that, we would damage other parts of the environment to get at uranium.
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