SIR – I’m touched (Letters, October 16) by Mr Wilkes’s faith in our future ability to mine highly-dispersed deposits of Uranium at “affordable” prices and reduced world population to “sustainable” levels (of course, if certain countries get their hands on nuclear technology, population reduction might be their aim!).

If we, on a green island with a wealth of potential renewable energy resources (including tidal, wind, biofuel and hydro power), cannot make do without nuclear power, how can we deny nuclear energy to states with far fewer natural resources (including some Arab states, Iran, and much of the Third World)?

This would surely be condemning them to remain in poverty?

We should be creating jobs developing green technology and exporting it (especially to Third World countries) while running down existing nuclear plants and disposing of the huge amounts of waste already produced.

Councillor John Hall (Lib-Dem, Windhill and Wrose), Pennithorne Avenue, Shipley