Last night we had the Nuclear Energy debate with an excellent set of speakers both for and against the motion. Two MPs came along to put their case: Robert Goodwill, and Nick Hurd, as well as Miranda Kirschel from the Nuclear Industry Association and Dr David Lowry, an Environmental Policy Consultant.

It was a fascinating discussion and I know that many of the attendees learnt a lot. At the end of the debate we had a vote on whether we need nuclear energy. Perhaps a bit of a loaded question as there was a unanimous vote in favour. What was more interesting was that everyone also agreed that nuclear energy can only be part of the solution, and certainly not the only solution. Under the current sytstem, if we take the decision to use nuclear, it will take approximately 15 years before we have the power stations built and producing nuclear. In the meantime it is vital that we explore renewables, and focus our efforts on increasing the capacity of other energy supplies.

This is not the first CF working life event discussing this issue. At the conference in Loughborough in August, we heard about and discussed the renewables options. It does appear clear that we need to look at different options for our fuel supplies to ensure that we have stable energy supplies, but also those that where possible have lower carbon emissions, to limit client change.  

We had some new faces (and some old ones too), and a number of people come on to the pub too for more soicalising! Thank you to Miranda Kirschel for her help in pulling the event together. Well done to Karen Allen for making the event successful including chairing the event very professionally, getting the speakers to stick to their time limits! Excellent job!