Recent+developments.


 * Recent developments.**

Since we took part in the original debate at Redlands school, events across the world have introduced some new and interesting points. Most dramatically, the catastrophic failure of the power plant at Fukushima has had knock-on effects on nuclear policy across the world, perhaps most famously in Germany, less hysterically prompting an extensive safety review that was less widely reported. In Germany, the debate has now widened to look at more renewable as well as more traditional methods of generating electricity. Perhaps more in tune with the local flavour of the Severn Estuary project, recent protests at Hinkley Point echo public unease over nuclear power that may yet shape policy. On the other hand, perhaps surprisingly, the BBC reported that support for the nuclear industry in the UK had not been damaged as many many might think. Nonetheless, the debate worldwide has changed and there are certainly growing worries in some sectors over the future of nuclear power. It is difficult to get a balanced view of the severity of the incident at Fukushima, with some commentators claiming that it will prove to be more serious than Chernobyl while others are more dismissive. A student-friendly comparison of doses can be found on popular web-comic xkcd, although the author was quick to publish some notes to accompany the poster when new information became available. The Energy Collective, a group of energy and climate change professionals writing on the web, gave a fairly lucid overview of the incident and there are detailed updates from the IAEA but it is difficult to identify any commentator without some vested interest in the argument. The sheer proliferation of views reflects the huge difficulty faced in simplifying and explaining the energy debate.

In other dramatic news, energy policy has been affected by the ongoing economic crisis in Europe, Japan and in the US. Whilst confidence in the nuclear industry may be weakening, the shaky economies of the developed nations may not be able to bear the economic brunt of a switchover to renewables. Biomass has been threatened and opinion is divided over the future of wind power. On the other hand, some think that the prospects of renewable energy might be all the better in the wake of the economic upheaval and the problems in the nuclear industry. In addition, concerns over exploitation of non-renewable resources such as [|oil] and the bad press for fracking in the North East of England and elsewhere are opening up a wider debate about future energy generation.

All in all, the possibilities of energy generation from the Severn are perhaps more relevant now than they were at the inception of this project and offer huge opportunities for relevant science education.