Nuclear Jellyfish (and Bernard Ingham)

 Those of us who want to see wind power as part of the weaning off fossil fuels get a lot of stick from the pro-nuke lobby (see my exchanges with Sir Bernard Ingham below) because the wind doesn’t blow all the time. One of my fellow Greens amusingly remarked that this is like not growing apple trees because they only produce fruit in Autumn! That said, it’s a genuine drawback to wind turbines and the main reason we want a mixture of renewables.

I was entertained therefore to hear that the Torness nuclear plant recently had to shut down for 2 days because of….jellyfish! Now this isn’t the MAIN argument against the nukes –  that would be the danger of radiation poisoning and Fukushima/Chernobyl-style mishaps. It does scotch the “100% reliable” argument, though. Doesn’t it, Sir Bernard?