The FT Big Read by Jamie Smyth and Sarah White entitled “Breaking Russia’s grip on nuclear fuel” (January 23) addressed something crucial for the resilience and indeed survival of the UK.
There is no doubt that the decisions that led to the UK falling from being the world leader in civil nuclear power to being an also-ran were ill-thought through and those culpable should feel ashamed.
The only way of meeting the inevitable national exponential growth in demand for the base load of electrical power that is “green”, and not intermittent or weather-dependent, is to develop nuclear.
The government needs to use every means at its disposal to bring into service Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, the large-scale reactors at Wylfa in north Wales, and its small modular reactor programme. Similarly, it should support and encourage UK uranium enrichment companies to become part of the push to deny Russia a market for its products.
Admiral Lord West of Spithead
House of Lords, London SW1, UK
