NUCLEAR energy once promised electricity that would be too cheap to meter.

Of course this never happened, yet it still remains the most overlooked solution to the long-term energy demands of the planet.

Existing nuclear technology using the uranium fuel cycle has its drawbacks, however science is increasingly indicating the future lies with the thorium fuel cycle.

The thorium process is far safer, more abundant, produces less waste and cannot be perverted to make nuclear weapons.

The Alvin Weinberg foundation was set up to promote UK investment into the next generation of these thorium reactors which offers the possibility to provide centuries of carbon neutral electricity generation.

Even some Greenpeace activists have been convinced that this has potential and I would like to encourage people to look at nuclear power as a real asset and not something to fear.

It was Britain that built the world’s first commercial nuclear reactor and we should make sure that while other parts of the world have been understandably frightened into abandoning this incredibly promising research, we once again become a world leader in technology.

For this to be successful it will need the support of the public as well as the investment.

One condition – build them with British money to ensure we own the technology, patents and profits, not the Chinese government.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York