London's commitment to nuclear power is questioned - meanwhile, Northern Ireland has no interest in nuclear at all

The Conservative government has been accused of compiling a "wish list" on nuclear power rather than a proper plan to scale up such capacity in the UK. Parliamentarians on the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee said questions remain for ministers' ambitious nuclear goals. The new report, published today, backs the government's decision to look to nuclear power as a way to meet the UK's electricity needs amid the race to net zero.

This is a very troubling report, yet it is one that will probably get no attention in Northern Ireland. It is troubling because the Tories traditionally champion themselves as the party of science. If the public, for example, is uninformed on something such as nuclear power, then it is the Conservatives who are most likely to act in the public good.

Much of the criticism of nuclear power is indeed uninformed, particularly on the island of Ireland. Politicians across the spectrum in the Republic have long talked nonsense about the risks from Sellafield, which showed that they do not know the real risks with nuclear. The real risks come millennia from now, because nuclear waste will still be toxic and future populations do not know that.

There is no risk whatsoever from radioactive levels in the Irish Sea. Indeed scientists even found that the fallout from the appalling Chernobyl disaster in the 1980s was much lower than thought. Well run nuclear, as in a nation such as France, makes it much easier to slash carbon emissions. Germany, once the most advanced and scientific country in Europe, has foolishly scrapped its nuclear and is struggling with both meeting its energy needs and carbon reduction targets.

Yet NI is barely better on nuclear than the Republic. Amid an urgent climate debate, the use of such power is not even on the radar here.