Sir, I am at a loss to understand the opening remarks of Peter Todd’s letter of July 30 in which he claims to not understand the power station I described in my earlier letter of July 16. In my own letter I made no attempt to describe the power station; I merely pointed out its pivotal involvement in the efforts to strive for clean nuclear energy.

Mr Todd is evidently, and quite rightly, proud of the strenuous efforts engineers made to clean up the particulate emissions of the power station. It is not the failing of engineers like him, but of senior managers and policy makers, for a lack of effort and investment to clean up the gaseous emissions which ultimately led to the closure of the plant.

Mr Todd describes in some detail the technical achievements of the engineers of the Didcot power station — these men and women are to be commended for building the infrastructure which keeps our lights on.

I want to again point out the equally important contribution to the goal of clean energy being pursued just down the road by the scientists and engineers at the JET experiment in Culham.

This world-leading centre of excellence may very well not exist had it not been for the presence of Didcot Power Station and the likes of Mr Todd.

Science and engineering are key to a prosperous future. Looking back from 20 or 30 years hence, I hope that the staff of JET display the same obvious pride in their achievements as the engineers upon whose shoulders they stand.

Dr Lee Upcraft

Clapcot Way

Wallingford