| Topic: | Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear? | |
| Posted by: | Peter John | |
| Date/Time: | 10/01/05 01:29:00 |
| I worked as an energy economist for some years. The best thing to do is to leave it to the market - they in my judgement have the most persuasive incentives to make the right decisions. Certainly, if the electricity industry wants to build new nuclear power stations, as it is likely to do if the oil or gas prices rise further, licences and planning permission should be granted readily if they are safe. The best thing the government can do is leave the market alone - not because the market always gets it right, but because governments usually get it wrong, when making decisions decades with results into the future (long beyond the lifespan of most governments). There's always a temptation for governments to fiddle, but their fiddling is generally counter-productive. What aren't justified are huge subsidies for ugly wind farms or pie-in-the-sky work on solar power. |