FOLK who call for new nuclear power stations to be built (as did your correspondent Mike Fry, Letters 16 April) repeat well-worn arguments.

It boils down to a belief that the next generation of nuclear power plants will provide the world with cheap and safe power. How long will it take such folk to see that it is always ‘the next generation?’ The economics of nuclear power is increasingly nonsensical. It is like the economics of jet bombers. In the 50s Britain operated 350 V-bombers. Today we couldn’t even afford to rebuild a dozen Nimrods! And for nuclear it is even worse as the technology is a lot less mature.

Nuclear, fossil fuels, wind power, etc – all methods of electricity production can be variously criticised. With the Navitus Bay windfarm a hot discussion topic, there is presently a lot of criticism of wind power. Yet most of this talk is an unwelcome distraction because in the case of wind power the criticism is almost entirely unmerited.

DR MARTIN RODGER Bloxworth Road, Parkstone, Poole