The following review of last night's event was provided by a nuclear neutral attendee.

Nuclear Communities: listen and be heard

Colston Hall, Bristol, Wednesday 9 November 2011

Chaired by

• Damian Carrington, Head of Environment, The Guardian

Speakers

• Dr Andy Hall, Deputy Chief Inspector, Office for Nuclear Regulation.
• Dr Doug Parr, Chief Scientist Greenpeace UK.
• Dr Nigel Knee, Head of Nuclear Policy, Nuclear New Build, EdF Energy
• Prof Steve Thomas, Professor of Energy Policy, Greenwich University.
• Peter McDonald, Deputy Head of New Nuclear, Department of Energy and Climate Change.
• Dr Paul Dorfman, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust Nuclear Policy Research Fellow.

This was a free evening public meeting with speakers from all sides of the nuclear power debate, organised by Paul Dorfman, an increasingly prominent sceptic who has lived in Bristol for many years.  The aim was to expose the main arguments for and against nuclear power, explain government policy and the way the industry is regulated, and give the people of Bristol a chance to question the speakers.  Each gave a 10 minute presentation, followed by an extended Q&A session.

The sceptics amongst the speakers were passionate and engaged with the issues directly, albeit that they were putting their case rather than balanced arguments.  The Government and nuclear regulator presented their Powerpoints well enough, but it was left to EDF to put the case for nuclear.  This, they singularly failed to do, which is a shame because there are key aspects of energy policy that I would have liked to hear a range of views on, eg, national energy self-sufficiency.

The room was packed.  My impression is the audience contained a cross section of views, but those who tend to favour new nuclear build generally kept their views to themselves so the sceptics had the floor to themselves and took full advantage.  The Chair handled a potentially volatile audience well, the panel  all seemed to do their best to give direct answers, and it was a lively and useful final 45 minutes or so.  Plenty of Greenpeace t-shirts in evidence, and a stall outside the room with good material.

Glad I went.

Background information to event can be found:

http://www.nuclearconsult.com/docs/flyer091111.pdf