NUCLEAR POWER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 22

NUCLEAR POWER

Higher Cost In Britain (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Aug. 3. Nuclear power was clearly going to be more expensive to produce in Britain than electricity from conventional methods, said the noted British physicist, Sir George Thomson, in Auckland today, before leaving for Dunedin by air. This was true, even though Britain did not have the abundant water resources New Zealand had and was compelled to use expensive coal and oil fuels to generate her power. He said he was not competent to comment on the New Zealand scene, but water power as a means of generating electricity had similar advantages to atomic power stations. In both cases installation and running expenses were the only costs. Fuel used in atomic plants was almost negligible in cost, and “you don’t have to pay God for water,” he said. installation costs might favour hydro schemes against nuclear stations, but such costs would vary in different countries. Sir George Thomson could not give any comparative figures for Britain, but he said the cost difference between nuclear power and electricity generated by the usual methods was “not enormous” and the official view was that both were likely to be costing the same to produce by 1970.