Atomic Split

Since the 1950s, nuclear power has been met with a resounding “nein danke!” from many left-wing campaigners, even as it has become a fixture of the energy mix, powering 15% of the UK grid today – down from 25% in the 1990s.

Supporters on the left say nuclear is a necessity if we stand a chance of decarbonising the economy. Its detractors argue that it’s just another lethal fossil fuelling an extractive and unjust system. Can both be right?

To get a fresh perspective on this decades-old debate, Craig Gent, head of operations at Novara Media, meets two experts from either side of the divide: Andrea Vetter, a transformation researcher and activist in Germany and the co-author of The Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism, and Matthew T. Huber, a professor of geography at Syracuse University in New York and the author of Climate Change as Class War.