By Lucy Ashton
Greens Minister Patrick Harvie has defended his government’s pursuit of “clean, green renewables” over nuclear development.
It comes amid a warning Scotland will be left “painfully isolated” after three-quarters of the global economy backed new nuclear power. Mr Harvie appeared on the BBC Sunday Show where he said other countries do not have the renewable potential of Scotland.
His appearance was branded “illogical” by the Scottish Tories who back their Westminster counterparts. Andrew Bowie this week said the SNPs opposition is “criminally negligent”.
The latest criticism aimed at the SNP/Green government comes from the head of a nuclear association who told COP28 that they “need to wake up, smell the coffee”.
The climate conference in Dubai saw the US and the UK were among the countries to back the goal of tripling nuclear power capacity by 2050. The UK Government has already committed for a quarter of Britain’s power to come from nuclear by 2050.
Mr Harvie, who is from Dumbarton, however, thinks advancement in technology will bridge the current problem of renewable storage and when asked about the loss of jobs that would come with the production and maintenance of a nuclear plant, he said: “You will ultimately use energy that is produced under a different energy policy.”
He added: “We do want the jobs and where we will get high quality jobs from is where Scotland has a strategic advantage. That is in renewables. That is in green hydrogen.”
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: “Scotland is painfully isolated from the overwhelmingly bulk of scientific and global opinion; we need new nuclear, at scale and at pace, to hit net zero.
“Every credible modelling organisation, from the UN, to the IEA, to CCC, says that, and every country that is serious about cutting emission has done so with nuclear.
“The Scottish Government needs to wake up, smell the coffee, and drop their ban on new nuclear projects before jobs, investment and opportunity goes elsewhere.”
Scottish Conservative shadow net zero, energy and transport secretary Douglas Lumsden MSP said: “It’s becoming ever more clear that the SNP-Green Government’s narrow-minded opposition to new nuclear is out-of-step with experts and the rest of world
“If we are to have a chance of meeting our ambitious net zero targets, nuclear power will have an essential role to play in our energy future.
“Yet while Green Minister Patrick Harvie seems to be perfectly happy to take nuclear power produced in the rest of the UK from the grid, the SNP-Green Government remains illogically opposed to nuclear industry, investment or jobs coming to Scotland.