Don't let nuclear renaissance bury carbon capture

[Nipuna]

THE UK's coalition government has a spotty record on climate change and energy. It inherited the 2008 Climate Change Act, one of the few pieces of legislation anywhere committing a nation to cut its emissions, but has done little to push it along. It seems more interested in fracking.

There are some hopeful signs, though. The government is close to signing a deal to build the first new nuclear reactors for 25 years (see "How UK's first nuclear reactor for 25 years will work"). As New Scientist went to press, the deal had not been closed, and the reactors will take years to build. Nevertheless, it is a step forward.

Now the government must take several more steps. The UK needs more low-carbon energy. It also needs carbon capture and storage (CCS): trapping CO2 as it is released from power plants and industrial sites, then burying it deep underground. Without this, emissions will almost certainly continue to rise.

As nuclear is being pushed, CCS remains stalled. Earlier this week, expert witnesses lined up to complain about the situation to the government's Energy and Climate Change Committee.

The take-home message was that the technology is ready to go, but successive governments have dragged their feet. At best, the UK will have two CCS stations by 2020. Stuart Haszeldine of the University of Edinburgh summed up the missed opportunity: "If we'd driven this, we could have had more than five projects by now."

While nuclear, renewables and shale gas are seen as essentials, CCS is still seen as optional. That is nonsense. If the UK government wants to frack, it must also do CCS. Otherwise, we will be adding sources of emissions just when we need to get rid of them.