IN?response to Herbie Renfred's letter 'Failing windmills', in which he claims a 30 minute search of the net would reveal that the total cost of taking care of the British nuclear waste for the next 100 years is clearly £70 billion.

Search the net for as long as you like and you'll find no long term method of disposing of nuclear waste in the UK has yet been proposed, costed, and approved. Some parts of the nuclear waste stream will take much longer to decay.

Therefore there is no way to know what it will cost to dispose of nuclear waste. No business can invest in nuclear power unless government underwrites all the known unknown factors, a credible business plan is impossible, only a high stakes gamble. The 'Dragons Den' would laugh at nuclear power as a non-subsidised investment plan.

A search of the net is likely to reveal that there is not expected to be much petrol, gas or nuclear fuel left in 100 years time. Where will the energy required to power the clean up as the last nuclear power station closes come from? Horses, wind turbines, solar panels, and bio fuel? What will that cost then, will it even be possible? Or do we assume people will invent a new as yet unproven power source –­ another gamble.

Nuclear power is a high risk casino. Feeling lucky? Build a nuclear power station and for your great grandchildren keep your fingers crossed for luck, because it's them who will pay the ultimate price if you lose the bet.

I'd think a couple of dozen wind turbines up the River Severn would look rather good next to the bridge and the closed nuclear power stations. Maybe they could even make use of the redundant power lines, Roll them out.

– Tom Cousins, Coleford.