Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association and Matt Willey, head of public affairs at Drax Power led the debates.
Tom Greatrex, an former shadow energy minister, made the case for nuclear power as part of a mix of energy sources. Using the grey overcast weather in Bournemouth to illustrate his point, Greatrex argued strongly that nuclear provided a reliable low carbon energy supply to complement other sources of energy when the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow.
Pointing out that it has been a decade since the government had decided to build new nuclear installations, Greatrex argued that ministers need to make firm, long-term commitments to achieve the right energy mix.
Matt Willey agreed with Greatrex that there was greater strength in a diverse energy mix.
Drawing on the strategic shifts taken by Drax, the company had realised that there was no future in coal and so made the decision to switch to biomass fuel and make Drax a more efficient energy producer.
Willey echoed Greatrex’s criticism of government policy. He said policy shifts by departments affected Drax’s ability to open up new technologies to market competition.
Speakers from the floor, including Professor Elliot Shubert from the Natural History Museum and Phil Williams from CMD London Central, challenged both speakers with robust arguments for greater use of renewable sources including wind, tidal technologies, micro generation and changing consumer behaviours as alternatives to nuclear power.
Damian King from Fusion Energy branch also made the case for greater investment in alternative energy sources.
Graham Walker from Scottish Natural Heritage drew attention to the legacy costs from opencast mining and the hidden costs of restoring uranium mines.
Greatrex said there were no simple answers. Fusion power had already taken many decades to develop, but he agreed more investment was needed.
He said decommissioning existing nuclear sites was one of the greatest challenges we face. However, new nuclear was designing-in decommissioning from the start, so the legacy costs would be lower.
Willey agreed and pointed out that the challenge was how to replace the energy output and cut carbon emissions.