Hello and welcome to a special episode of the Spectators podcast. I'm Kate Andrews, the

Spectator's economics editor, and I'll be hosting today's discussion about the future of nuclear

energy in the UK and the stigmas around it. As the UK faces a rising energy crisis,

with gas supplies and short supply, people are asking not just how we mitigate the problem in the short term,

but how we hedge against it in the long term. What role might nuclear energy play? What's

slowing down its development? Is it the technology, the funding, or public attitude towards

nuclear energy? Can hearts and minds be swayed in its favor? To discuss all this and more, I'm joined today by Mark Jenkinson MP,

Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy,

and formerly a self-employed contractor in the nuclear supply chain.

Wade Allison is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford,

and Julia Pike is the Nuclear Development Director at EDF,

and this podcast is kindly sponsored by EDF.

Wade, can you start by telling us the extent to which nuclear stigma or ignorance exists,

either in this country or others?

Is it a real problem or is it overstated?

I think it's the problem. In fact, I think it's the only problem because nuclear is so straightforward. The problem is that people

don't accept it. It's the equivalent in the virus thing of the anti-vaxxers. People don't trust it. And that's

what we've got to get over. Mark, you used to work in the nuclear industry before you went into

politics. Do you hear concerns amongst your constituents about nuclear energy? Not from my own

constituents, but I certainly recognize those concerns in other parts of the

country. I come from a community that has really high nuclear acceptance, as do the

constituencies around them. But I do certainly say that elsewhere across the country.

...