Nuclear power in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Nuclear power currently generates around a sixth of the United Kingdom's electricity
. As of 2011, the United Kingdom operates 19 nuclear reactor
s at nine locations. The country also operates a nuclear reprocessing
plant at Sellafield
.
The United Kingdom's first commercial nuclear power
reactor began operating in 1956 and, at its peak in 1997, 26% of the nation's electricity was generated from nuclear power. Since then a number of stations have closed and the share had declined to 19.26% by 2004 and approximately 16% by 2009. The two remaining Magnox
nuclear stations and two of the seven AGR
nuclear stations are currently planned for accounting purposes to close by 2016. This is a cause behind the UK's forecast 'energy gap', though secondary to the reduction in coal
generating capacity. However older AGR nuclear power station have been life-extended, and it is likely many of the others can be life-extended, significantly reducing the energy gap.
In October 2010 the Government of the United Kingdom
gave the go-ahead for a new generation of up to 8 nuclear power stations to be built. The Scottish Government, with the backing of the Scottish Parliament
, has however made it clear that Scotland
will have no new nuclear power stations and is aiming instead for a non-nuclear future.
All nuclear installations in the UK are overseen by the Office for Nuclear Regulation
.
(UKAEA) was established in 1954 as a statutory corporation to oversee and pioneer the development of nuclear energy within the United Kingdom.
The first station to be connected to the grid, on 27 August 1956, was Calder Hall, although the production of weapons-grade
plutonium
was the main reason behind this power station
. Calder Hall was the world's first nuclear power station to deliver electricity in commercial quantities (although the 5 MW "semi-experimental" reactor at Obninsk
in the Soviet Union
was connected to the public supply in 1954).
The practical measures identified were:
It went on to state that Because nuclear is a mature technology
within a well established global industry, there is no current case for further government support and that the decision whether to bring forward proposals for new nuclear build is a matter for the private sector.
Tony Blair
were suggesting that constructing new nuclear power stations would be the best way to meet the country's targets on reducing emissions of gases responsible for global warming
. The energy policy of the United Kingdom
has a near-term target of cutting emissions below 1997 levels by 20%, and a more ambitious target of a 80% cut by 2050.
In November 2005 the Government announced an energy review , subsequently launched in January 2006, to "review the UK's progress against the medium and long-term Energy White Paper goals and the options for further steps to achieve them" .
Critics of nuclear power have suggested that the main reason behind the review is to provide a justification for the building of a new generation of nuclear reactors. They also say that doing so will not be able to help meet the 2010 target due to the length of time needed to plan, construct and commission such power plants, and will be too late to fill the 'Energy Gap' predicted to result from the closure of existing nuclear and coal fired power stations. However backers say nuclear power will help meet the longer term target of a 60% cut by 2050. (wikinews) The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, expressed reservations about the 2006 Energy Review, its dependence upon nuclear power and its likely impact upon London and Londoners.
won a High Court
ruling that threw out the government's 2006 Energy Review. Mr Justice Sullivan
presiding held that the government's review was 'seriously flawed', in particular in that key details of the economics of the argument were only published after the review was completed. Justice Sullivan held that the review's wording on nuclear waste disposal was "not merely inadequate but also misleading", and held the decision to proceed to be "unlawful". Judicial review
proceedings were instigated by Greenpeace in October 2006.
Responding to the news, Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling
said that there would be a fresh consultation, but that a decision was required before the end of 2007. He stated that the government remains convinced that new nuclear power plants are needed to help combat climate change
and over-reliance on imported oil
and gas
.
Greenpeace hold the view that carbon emissions can be cut more cost-effectively by investment in a decentralised energy system
that makes maximum use of combined heat and power
and renewable energy
sources.
Attention was drawn in the media to numerous connections to nuclear industry lobbyists within the Labour Party .
or British Energy
.
Greenpeace responded to the release of the consultation document by repeating its position that replacing the nuclear fleet rather than decommissioning would only reduce the UK's total carbon emissions by four percent.
On September 7, 2007 several anti-nuclear groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, CND and the WWF announced that they had pulled out of the consultation process. They stated that it appeared as if the Government had already made up its mind regarding the future of nuclear power. The business and enterprise secretary, John Hutton, responded in a Radio 4 interview "It is not the government that has got a closed view on these issues, I think it is organisations like Greenpeace that have got a closed mind. There is only one outcome that Greenpeace and other organisations want from this consultation."
In a speech to Greenpeace
on 6 December 2007 about energy generation, David Cameron
spoke of replacing large scale generation by government and big energy companies with "decentralised energy" such as CHP
. The speech did not mention nuclear power. Also on 6 December 2007 the Conservative Party released a green paper entitled "Power to the People: The Decentralised Energy Revolution" . In a similar vein to David Cameron
's speech, this paper made no mention of nuclear energy other than to note that it currently accounts for 18% of the UK's energy generation.
(SNP)-led Scottish Government has made clear that it opposes new nuclear power stations being built in Scotland and has the final say on planning matters in Scotland. Liberal Democrat spokesman Steve Webb
MP said on 9 January 2008 "There is a real risk that focusing on new nuclear plants will undermine attempts to find a cleaner, greener, more sustainable and secure solution. We should be concentrating our efforts on renewables and greater energy conservation." On 10 January 2008, Alan Duncan
MP issued a response to the Government's announcement on nuclear power, welcoming it and suggesting that the Conservatives supported a level economic playing field for different types of energy generation rather than a preference for one over another .
So far, two consortia (EDF-Centrica and RWE-E.ON
) have announced plans to build a total of 12.5GW of new nuclear capacity; this is slightly more than the total capacity of British Energy's currently operating plants. A third consortium (Iberdrola - SSE - GdF-Suez) has also announced plans to acquire sites and build, but has not commented on the amount of capacity planned. Sweden's Vattenfall is known to be seeking partners for participation in new UK nuclear generation.
As of 2009 government officials believe a carbon price floor will need to be set to encourage companies to commit funds to nuclear build projects.
In November 2009, the Government identified ten nuclear sites which could accommodate future reactors.
Most of these sites already have a station; the only new sites are Braystones and Kirksanton.
In February 2010 Jonathan Leake of The Times
reported that Research Councils UK
, had committed to a 20-year research and construction plan that would see a nuclear fusion power
station in operation in the UK by around 2030. The accuracy of the report was denied by Research Councils UK.
In October 2010, sites at Braystones, Kirksanton and Dungeness were ruled out by Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Chris Huhne
with the former government's list of eleven potential sites reduced to eight.
Following the 2011 Fukushima I nuclear accidents Chris Huhne
, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
, wrote to Dr Mike Weightman, head of the HSE's Nuclear Directorate, on March 12, asking for a report 'on the implications of the situation and the lessons to be learned for the UK nuclear industry. The report is to be delivered within 6 months, with an interim report by mid-May, 'prepared in close cooperation with the International nuclear community and other nuclear safety regulators'. On March 15, Huhne expressed regret that that some European politicians were 'rushing to judgement' before assessments had been carried out, and said that it was too early to determine whether the willingness of the private sector to invest in new nuclear plants would be affected. In the wake of the accident the Government was criticised for having colluded with EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse in order to manage communications and maintain public support for nuclear power.
As of 2011, the government's programme to build new nuclear power stations in England will be "delayed by at least three months so that lessons can be learned from the accident at Fukushima in Japan".
The history of nuclear energy economics in the UK is mixed. Early generation reactors (Magnox
) were not built for sole commercial considerations while later reactors faced delays (culminating in Sizewell B taking 7 years from start of construction to entering service, after a lengthy public enquiry). Costs have also been made problematic by a lack of national strategy or policy for spent nuclear fuel, so that a mixed use of reprocessing and short-term storage have been employed, with little regard for long-term considerations (though a national depository has been proposed).
There is a lack of consensus in the UK about the cost/benefit nature of nuclear energy, as well as ideological influence (for instance, those favouring 'energy security' generally arguing pro, while those worried about the 'environmental impact' against). Because of this, and a lack of a consistent energy policy in the UK since the mid-1990s, no new reactors have been built since Sizewell B in 1995. Costs have been a major influence to this (with Sizewell B having run at a cost of 6p/kWh for its first five years of operation), while the long lead-time between proposal and operation (at ten years or more) has put off many investors, especially with long-term considerations such as energy market regulation and nuclear waste remaining unresolved.
and RWE
have expressed an interest in participating in the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain provided that a suitable carbon price on coal and gas generation is set. However in 2010 the Daily Telegraph reported that additional incentives, such as capacity payments and supplier nuclear obligations, would be needed to persuade companies to build nuclear plants in the UK.
When the rest of the UK generating industry was privatised, the Government introduced the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation
, initially as means of supporting the nuclear generators, which remained under state ownership until the formation of British Energy
. British Energy, the private sector company that now operates the UK's more modern nuclear plants, came close to bankruptcy and in 2004 was restructured with UK government investment of over £3 billion, although this has since been paid back in full. In January 2009, British Energy was bought for approximately £12 billion by EDF Energy (a subsidiary of Électricité de France
(EDF)) and Centrica
(a major operator of CCGT power stations and renewable sources in the UK and parent company of British Gas) in an 80/20 split.
There are several reasons to expect significant improvement if new third generation
nuclear power stations are built:
As of 2011 no third generation power station has been completed in Europe
to confirm these improvements. Construction of the first such power station, a European Pressurized Reactor
at Olkiluoto
in Finland
, is running at least three years behind schedule, with the parties in arbitration to resolve responsibility for cost overruns, creating doubts that recent improvements sufficiently improve construction costs. The BBC reported in July 2009 that Olkiluoto was running three years and €1.7 billion euro over budget. However some observers suggest that such delays should be expected as this is the first reactor of its kind and the contractors are not used to working to the standards of the nuclear industry. The project is based on a "turnkey" contract which means the price to the customer is fixed regardless of the delays.
Construction of a second reactor of the same design started in 2007 at Flamanville
in France, but in 2010 and 2011 EDF announced delays and cost increases that nearly doubled construction time and costs, with an updated completion date of 2016, nine years after the first concrete was poured.
In January 2008, the UK government indicated that it will take steps to encourage private operators to build new nuclear power plants in the coming years to meet projected energy needs as fossil fuel
prices climb, however there would be no subsidies from the UK government for nuclear power. The Government hopes that the first station will be operational before 2020. However, the Welsh Assembly Government remains opposed to new nuclear plants in Wales despite the approval of Wylfa as a potential site. Scotland
has decided against new nuclear power stations (see paragraph below).
In May 2008, the head of the world's largest power company suggested that the Government has significantly underestimated the cost of building new nuclear power plants. The Times
has reported that Wulf Bernotat, chairman and chief executive of E.ON, estimates that the cost could be as high as €6 billion (£4.8 billion) per plant, which is much higher than the Government's £2.8 billion estimate. The cost of replacing Britain's ten nuclear power stations could therefore reach £48 billion, excluding the cost of decommissioning ageing reactors
or dealing with nuclear waste.
The UK has a large variety of different intermediate- and high-level radioactive wastes, coming from national programmes to develop nuclear weapons and nuclear power. It is a national responsibility to pay for the management of these. In addition, new nuclear power stations could be built, the waste management from which would be the private sector's financial responsibility, although all would be stored in a single facility. Most of the UK's higher-activity radioactive waste
is currently held in temporary storage at Sellafield
.
On July 31, 2006, the latest body to consider the issue of long-term waste management - the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) - published its final report . Its main recommendation was that geological disposal
should be adopted. This would involve burial at a depth between 200 – 1000m deep in a purpose-built facility with no intention to retrieve the waste in the future. It was concluded that this could not be implemented for several decades, and that there were social and ethical concerns within UK society about the disposal option that would need to be resolved as part of the implementation process. Such a repository should start to be closed as soon as practicable rather than being left open for future generations. 14 additional recommendations were also made.
The report was criticised by David Ball, professor of risk management
at Middlesex University
who resigned from CoRWM in 2005, who said that it was
based on opinions rather than sound science.
On June 12, 2008, a white paper, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely, A Framework for Implementing Geological Disposal was published confirming CoRWM's conclusion of geologic disposal of higher-activity wastes. The policy announcement confirmed that there would be one geologic disposal site, for both national legacy waste as well as potential wastes from future programs. It announced that a process of volunteerism would be used in selecting a suitable site and invited communities from the UK to express interest. They would be rewarded by the infrastructure investment for the facility, jobs for the long term and a tailored package of benefits.
(NDA), formed in April 2005 under the Energy Act 2004
, oversees and manages the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's older Magnox
power plants and the reprocessing facilities at Sellafield
, which were transferred to its ownership from BNFL
, and the former nuclear research and development facilities previously run by the UKAEA.
Managing the Nuclear Legacy, the cost of decommissioning these facilities had been estimated at around £42 billion. The white paper estimated the costs at £48 billion at March 2002 prices, an increase of £6bn, with the cost of decommissioning Sellafield
accounting for over 65% of the total. This figure included a rise in BNFL's
estimated decommissioning liabilities from £35 billion to £40.5 billion, with an estimate of £7.4 billion for UKAEA
.
In June 2003 the Department of Trade and Industry estimated that decommissioning costs, including the cost of running the facilities still in operation for their remaining life, were approximately £56 billion at 2003 prices, although the figure was 'almost certainly' expected to rise. This estimate was revised in subsequent years; to £57 billion in September 2004; £63 billion in September 2005; £65 billion in March 2006; and to £73 billion in March 2007. Around £46 billion of the £73 billion is for the decommissioning and clean-up of the Sellafield site.
In May 2008 a senior director at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority indicated that the figure of £73 billion might increase by several billion pounds.
liabilities in relation to spent nuclear fuels have risen. In February 2006 it was reported that these had increased to £5.3 billion, an increase of almost £1 billion. The costs of handling these is to be met by the Nuclear Liabilities Fund
(NLF), the successor to the Nuclear Generation Decommissioning Fund. Although British Energy contributes to the NLF, the fund is underwritten by the Government. The House of Commons
Public Accounts Committee noted in 2007 that British Energy may lack an incentive to reduce the eventual liabilities falling to the Nuclear Liabilities Fund.
published a catalogue of earthquakes in 1994.
Although earthquakes are relatively frequent, they rarely cause damage to well constructed structures. Two of the largest, estimated at approximately 5.75 (moderate) on the Richter scale
occurred in 1382 and 1580. Evaluation of past earthquakes indicates that the UK is unlikely to be subject to earthquakes larger than a magnitude of approximately 6.5.
The occurrence of tsunami
s impacting the UK is rare, with only two (possibly three) having been identified; a 3m high wave as a result of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
, and a 21m high tsunami in 6100 BC which occurred under very different geological conditions. In recent years there has been an accumulation of evidence indicating that the 1607 Bristol Channel floods
may also have resulted from a tsunami that rose from a height of 4m to over 6m as it passed up the channel.
A 2005 report for DEFRA
, conducted following the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, found that, discounting 'exotic events such as meteorite
impacts', 'in most plausible circumstances it is likely that such an event would be contained by current defences, designed to resist storm surges, for all major developed areas', however the joint occurrence of events, such as a tsunami coinciding with a storm surge, was discounted. The report did, however call for additional more detailed modelling to be carried out, recommended that the Met Office
should provide a tsunami warning service, and that detection devices should be upgraded. A follow-up report indicated that, of the three likely scenarios modelled, a Lisbon-type event would pose the greatest danger, potentially resulting in a tsunami wave exceeding the 1:100 year extreme sea level at the Cornish peninsula by up to 1.4m, but being within the range elsewhere. This conclusion is markedly different from the greater heights calculated by Bryant and Haslett as having been encountered in the Bristol Channel during the 1607 Bristol Channel floods.
Speaking before the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee
on March 15, 2011, about the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Huhne
expressed concern over extreme weather events in the UK, but stated that 'we are lucky that we do not have to suffer from tsunamis'.
In the early 1990s concern was raised in the United Kingdom about the effect of nuclear power plant
s on unborn children, when clusters of leukaemia
cases were discovered nearby to some of these plants. The effect was speculative because clusters were also found where no nuclear plants were present, and not all plants had clusters around them. Detailed studies carried out by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment
(COMARE) in 2003 found no evidence of raised childhood cancer around nuclear power plants, but did find an excess of leukaemia
and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) near other nuclear installations including Sellafield
, AWE
Burghfield
and UKAEA Dounreay
. COMARE's opinion is that "the excesses around Sellafield and Dounreay are unlikely to be due to chance, although there is not at present a convincing explanation for them".
An opinion poll in Britain in 2002 by MORI on behalf of Greenpeace
showed large support for wind energy and a majority for putting an end to nuclear energy if the costs were the same. In November 2005 a YouGov
poll conducted by business advisory firm Deloitte found that 36% of the UK population supported the use of nuclear power, though 62% would support an energy policy that combines nuclear along with renewable technologies. The same survey also revealed an unrealistic public expectation for the future rate of renewables development - with 35% expecting the majority of electricity to come from renewables in only 15 years, which is more than double the government's expectation.
In the early 2000s there was a heated discussion about nuclear waste, leading to the creation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (see above).
A large nationally representative 2010 British survey about energy issues found that public opinion is divided on the issue of nuclear power. The majority of people are concerned about nuclear power and public trust in the government and nuclear industry remains relatively low. The survey showed that there is a clear preference for renewable energy
sources over nuclear power.
According to a national opinion poll, support for nuclear power in the UK dropped by twelve percent following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Other polls have shown the opposite trend, with support increasing following the Fukushima disaster.
and is aiming instead for a non-nuclear future. This was made clear when, First Minister
Alex Salmond
said there was 'no chance' of any new nuclear power stations being built in Scotland. The Government's stance has been backed by the Scottish Parliament
that voted 63-58 to support the Scottish Government's policy of opposing new nuclear power stations.
About half of Scotland's electricity comes from the Hunterston B and Torness nuclear power plants. Scottish leaders hope to replace these with renewables when they close in 2016 and 2023 respectively.
Since 2006 Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B have been restricted to about 70% of normal MWe output because of boiler-related problems requiring that they operate at reduced boiler temperatures. This output restriction is likely to remain until closure.
The Oldbury and Wylfa stations are the World's last two operational generation I reactors.
In 2010, EDF Energy announced a 5 year life extension for both Heysham 1 and Hartlepool to enable further generation until 2019.
A number of research and development reactors also produced some power for the grid, including two Winfrith
reactors, two Dounreay
fast reactors, and the prototype Windscale Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor.
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. As of 2011, the United Kingdom operates 19 nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
s at nine locations. The country also operates a nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing
Nuclear reprocessing technology was developed to chemically separate and recover fissionable plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel. Reprocessing serves multiple purposes, whose relative importance has changed over time. Originally reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing...
plant at Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
.
The United Kingdom's first commercial nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
reactor began operating in 1956 and, at its peak in 1997, 26% of the nation's electricity was generated from nuclear power. Since then a number of stations have closed and the share had declined to 19.26% by 2004 and approximately 16% by 2009. The two remaining Magnox
Magnox
Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons...
nuclear stations and two of the seven AGR
Advanced gas-cooled reactor
An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant...
nuclear stations are currently planned for accounting purposes to close by 2016. This is a cause behind the UK's forecast 'energy gap', though secondary to the reduction in coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
generating capacity. However older AGR nuclear power station have been life-extended, and it is likely many of the others can be life-extended, significantly reducing the energy gap.
In October 2010 the Government of the United Kingdom
Government of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Government is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who selects all the remaining Ministers...
gave the go-ahead for a new generation of up to 8 nuclear power stations to be built. The Scottish Government, with the backing of the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, has however made it clear that Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
will have no new nuclear power stations and is aiming instead for a non-nuclear future.
All nuclear installations in the UK are overseen by the Office for Nuclear Regulation
Office for Nuclear Regulation
The Office for Nuclear Regulation is the regulator for the civil nuclear industry in the United Kingdom. Created on 1 April 2011, the ONR is formed from the merger of the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Directorate and, from 1 June 2011, the Department for Transport's...
.
20th century
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy AuthorityUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of nuclear fusion power. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and was formerly chaired by Lady Barbara Judge CBE...
(UKAEA) was established in 1954 as a statutory corporation to oversee and pioneer the development of nuclear energy within the United Kingdom.
The first station to be connected to the grid, on 27 August 1956, was Calder Hall, although the production of weapons-grade
Weapons-grade
A weapons-grade substance is one that is pure enough to be used to make a weapon or has properties that make it suitable for weapons use. Weapons-grade plutonium and uranium are the most common examples, but it may also be used to refer to chemical and biological weapons...
plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
was the main reason behind this power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
. Calder Hall was the world's first nuclear power station to deliver electricity in commercial quantities (although the 5 MW "semi-experimental" reactor at Obninsk
Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant
Obninsk Nuclear Power Station, , was built in the "Science City" of Obninsk, about 110 km southwest of Moscow. It was the first civilian nuclear power station in the world...
in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was connected to the public supply in 1954).
2002 Energy review
In relation to nuclear power, the conclusion of the Government's 2002 energy review , carried out by the Performance and Innovation Unit, was that:- The immediate priorities of energy policy are likely to be most cost-effectively served by promoting energy efficiencyEnergy conservationEnergy conservation refers to efforts made to reduce energy consumption. Energy conservation can be achieved through increased efficient energy use, in conjunction with decreased energy consumption and/or reduced consumption from conventional energy sources...
and expanding the role of renewablesRenewable energyRenewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
. However, the options of new investment in nuclear power and in clean coal (through carbon sequestration) need to be kept open, and practical measures taken to do this.
The practical measures identified were:
- Continuing to participate in international research.
- Ensuring that the nuclear skill-base is maintained, and that the regulators are adequately staffed to assess any new investment proposals.
- Shortening the lead-time to commissioning, should new nuclear power be chosen in future.
- Permitting nuclear power to benefit from the development of carbon taxes and similar market mechanisms.
- Addressing the problems of long-term nuclear waste disposal.
It went on to state that Because nuclear is a mature technology
Mature technology
A mature technology is a technology that has been in use for long enough that most of its initial faults and inherent problems have been removed or reduced by further development...
within a well established global industry, there is no current case for further government support and that the decision whether to bring forward proposals for new nuclear build is a matter for the private sector.
2003 Energy White Paper
The Government's Energy White Paper, published in 2003 and titled "Our Energy Future - Creating a Low Carbon Economy" concluded that:- Nuclear power is currently an important source of carbon-free electricity. However, its current economics make it an unattractive option for new, carbon-free generating capacity and there are also important issues of nuclear wasteRadioactive wasteRadioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
to be resolved. These issues include our legacy waste and continued waste arising from other sources. This white paper does not contain specific proposals for building new nuclear power stations. However we do not rule out the possibility that at some point in the future new nuclear build might be necessary if we are to meet our carbon targets.
2006 Energy review
In April 2005, advisers to British Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
were suggesting that constructing new nuclear power stations would be the best way to meet the country's targets on reducing emissions of gases responsible for global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. The energy policy of the United Kingdom
Energy policy of the United Kingdom
The current energy policy of the United Kingdom is set out in the Energy White Paper of May 2007 and Low Carbon Transition Plan of July 2009, building on previous work including the 2003 Energy White Paper and the Energy Review Report in 2006...
has a near-term target of cutting emissions below 1997 levels by 20%, and a more ambitious target of a 80% cut by 2050.
In November 2005 the Government announced an energy review , subsequently launched in January 2006, to "review the UK's progress against the medium and long-term Energy White Paper goals and the options for further steps to achieve them" .
Critics of nuclear power have suggested that the main reason behind the review is to provide a justification for the building of a new generation of nuclear reactors. They also say that doing so will not be able to help meet the 2010 target due to the length of time needed to plan, construct and commission such power plants, and will be too late to fill the 'Energy Gap' predicted to result from the closure of existing nuclear and coal fired power stations. However backers say nuclear power will help meet the longer term target of a 60% cut by 2050. (wikinews) The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, expressed reservations about the 2006 Energy Review, its dependence upon nuclear power and its likely impact upon London and Londoners.
2007 High Court ruling
On February 15, 2007, environmental group GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
won a High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
ruling that threw out the government's 2006 Energy Review. Mr Justice Sullivan
Jeremy Sullivan
Sir Jeremy Mirth Sullivan PC has been a Lord Justice of Appeal since 2009.He was educated at Framlingham College and King's College London and was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1968 where he became a bencher in 1993.By 1976 Sullivan was Counsel for the Department of Environment's M25...
presiding held that the government's review was 'seriously flawed', in particular in that key details of the economics of the argument were only published after the review was completed. Justice Sullivan held that the review's wording on nuclear waste disposal was "not merely inadequate but also misleading", and held the decision to proceed to be "unlawful". Judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
proceedings were instigated by Greenpeace in October 2006.
Responding to the news, Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
said that there would be a fresh consultation, but that a decision was required before the end of 2007. He stated that the government remains convinced that new nuclear power plants are needed to help combat climate change
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
and over-reliance on imported oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
.
Greenpeace hold the view that carbon emissions can be cut more cost-effectively by investment in a decentralised energy system
Distributed generation
Distributed generation, also called on-site generation, dispersed generation, embedded generation, decentralized generation, decentralized energy or distributed energy, generates electricity from many small energy sources....
that makes maximum use of combined heat and power
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
and renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
sources.
Attention was drawn in the media to numerous connections to nuclear industry lobbyists within the Labour Party .
2007 Consultation
The 2007 Energy White Paper: Meeting the Energy Challenge was published on May 23, 2007. It contained a 'preliminary view is that it is in the public interest to give the private sector the option of investing in new nuclear power stations'. Alongside the White Paper the Government published a consultation document, The Future of Nuclear Power together with a number of supporting documents. One of these, a report by Jackson Consulting, suggests that it would be preferable to site new power stations on existing nuclear power stations sites that are owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning AuthorityNuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005...
or British Energy
British Energy
British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal fired power station....
.
Greenpeace responded to the release of the consultation document by repeating its position that replacing the nuclear fleet rather than decommissioning would only reduce the UK's total carbon emissions by four percent.
On September 7, 2007 several anti-nuclear groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, CND and the WWF announced that they had pulled out of the consultation process. They stated that it appeared as if the Government had already made up its mind regarding the future of nuclear power. The business and enterprise secretary, John Hutton, responded in a Radio 4 interview "It is not the government that has got a closed view on these issues, I think it is organisations like Greenpeace that have got a closed mind. There is only one outcome that Greenpeace and other organisations want from this consultation."
In a speech to Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
on 6 December 2007 about energy generation, David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
spoke of replacing large scale generation by government and big energy companies with "decentralised energy" such as CHP
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
. The speech did not mention nuclear power. Also on 6 December 2007 the Conservative Party released a green paper entitled "Power to the People: The Decentralised Energy Revolution" . In a similar vein to David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
's speech, this paper made no mention of nuclear energy other than to note that it currently accounts for 18% of the UK's energy generation.
2008 Go-ahead given
In January 2008, the UK government gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations to be built. However, the Scottish National PartyScottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
(SNP)-led Scottish Government has made clear that it opposes new nuclear power stations being built in Scotland and has the final say on planning matters in Scotland. Liberal Democrat spokesman Steve Webb
Steve Webb
Steven John Webb, better known as Steve Webb , is an English Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Thornbury & Yate and the Minister of State for Pensions.-Background:...
MP said on 9 January 2008 "There is a real risk that focusing on new nuclear plants will undermine attempts to find a cleaner, greener, more sustainable and secure solution. We should be concentrating our efforts on renewables and greater energy conservation." On 10 January 2008, Alan Duncan
Alan Duncan
Alan James Carter Duncan is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton, and a Minister of State in the Department for International Development....
MP issued a response to the Government's announcement on nuclear power, welcoming it and suggesting that the Conservatives supported a level economic playing field for different types of energy generation rather than a preference for one over another .
So far, two consortia (EDF-Centrica and RWE-E.ON
Horizon Nuclear Power
Horizon Nuclear Power is a British energy company expecting to build new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom. It is an E.ON UK and RWE npower joint venture, established in 2009, with its head office in Gloucester....
) have announced plans to build a total of 12.5GW of new nuclear capacity; this is slightly more than the total capacity of British Energy's currently operating plants. A third consortium (Iberdrola - SSE - GdF-Suez) has also announced plans to acquire sites and build, but has not commented on the amount of capacity planned. Sweden's Vattenfall is known to be seeking partners for participation in new UK nuclear generation.
As of 2009 government officials believe a carbon price floor will need to be set to encourage companies to commit funds to nuclear build projects.
2009 to present
- Bradwell in Essex
- BraystonesBraystonesBraystones is a village in Cumbria, England.Braystones railway station is on the Cumbrian Coast Line.In 2009, it was approved by the British government as a site for a new nuclear power station...
- Kirksanton
- SellafieldSellafieldSellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
in Cumbria - Hartlepool
- Heysham in Lancashire
- Hinkley PointHinkley Point C nuclear power stationHinkley Point C nuclear power station is a proposed development for a new nuclear power station in Somerset, England.In September 2008 it was announced, by Electricité de France the new owners of Hinkley Point B, that a third, twin-unit European Pressurised Reactor reactor is planned for Hinkley...
in Somerset - OldburyOldbury nuclear power stationOldbury nuclear power station is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. It is operated by Magnox North Limited, on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority...
in Gloucestershire - Sizewell in Suffolk
- Wylfa in North Wales. (However, the Welsh Assembly Government remains opposed to new nuclear plants in Wales despite the approval of Wylfa as a potential site)
Most of these sites already have a station; the only new sites are Braystones and Kirksanton.
In February 2010 Jonathan Leake of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reported that Research Councils UK
Research Councils UK
Research Councils UK is a strategic partnership between the seven UK Research Councils. It enables the Councils to work together more effectively to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of their research, training and innovation activities, contributing to the delivery of the Government's...
, had committed to a 20-year research and construction plan that would see a nuclear fusion power
Fusion power
Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
station in operation in the UK by around 2030. The accuracy of the report was denied by Research Councils UK.
In October 2010, sites at Braystones, Kirksanton and Dungeness were ruled out by Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet....
Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
with the former government's list of eleven potential sites reduced to eight.
Following the 2011 Fukushima I nuclear accidents Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change is a British government cabinet position currently held by Chris Huhne. The government department was created on 3 October 2008 when former Prime Minister Gordon Brown reshuffled his cabinet....
, wrote to Dr Mike Weightman, head of the HSE's Nuclear Directorate, on March 12, asking for a report 'on the implications of the situation and the lessons to be learned for the UK nuclear industry. The report is to be delivered within 6 months, with an interim report by mid-May, 'prepared in close cooperation with the International nuclear community and other nuclear safety regulators'. On March 15, Huhne expressed regret that that some European politicians were 'rushing to judgement' before assessments had been carried out, and said that it was too early to determine whether the willingness of the private sector to invest in new nuclear plants would be affected. In the wake of the accident the Government was criticised for having colluded with EDF Energy, Areva and Westinghouse in order to manage communications and maintain public support for nuclear power.
As of 2011, the government's programme to build new nuclear power stations in England will be "delayed by at least three months so that lessons can be learned from the accident at Fukushima in Japan".
History
Magnox
Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons...
) were not built for sole commercial considerations while later reactors faced delays (culminating in Sizewell B taking 7 years from start of construction to entering service, after a lengthy public enquiry). Costs have also been made problematic by a lack of national strategy or policy for spent nuclear fuel, so that a mixed use of reprocessing and short-term storage have been employed, with little regard for long-term considerations (though a national depository has been proposed).
There is a lack of consensus in the UK about the cost/benefit nature of nuclear energy, as well as ideological influence (for instance, those favouring 'energy security' generally arguing pro, while those worried about the 'environmental impact' against). Because of this, and a lack of a consistent energy policy in the UK since the mid-1990s, no new reactors have been built since Sizewell B in 1995. Costs have been a major influence to this (with Sizewell B having run at a cost of 6p/kWh for its first five years of operation), while the long lead-time between proposal and operation (at ten years or more) has put off many investors, especially with long-term considerations such as energy market regulation and nuclear waste remaining unresolved.
Planned power stations
It is current UK Government policy that the construction of any new nuclear power stations in the UK will be led and financed by the private sector. This transfers the running and immediate concerns to the operator, while reducing (although not eliminating) government participation and long-term involvement/liability (nuclear waste, as involving government policy, will likely remain a liability, even if only a limited one). EDF EnergyEDF Energy
EDF Energy is an integrated energy company in the United Kingdom, with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom...
and RWE
RWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
have expressed an interest in participating in the construction of a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain provided that a suitable carbon price on coal and gas generation is set. However in 2010 the Daily Telegraph reported that additional incentives, such as capacity payments and supplier nuclear obligations, would be needed to persuade companies to build nuclear plants in the UK.
When the rest of the UK generating industry was privatised, the Government introduced the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation
Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation
The Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation refers to a collection of orders requiring the electricity Distribution Network Operators in England and Wales to purchase electricity from the nuclear power and renewable energy sectors...
, initially as means of supporting the nuclear generators, which remained under state ownership until the formation of British Energy
British Energy
British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal fired power station....
. British Energy, the private sector company that now operates the UK's more modern nuclear plants, came close to bankruptcy and in 2004 was restructured with UK government investment of over £3 billion, although this has since been paid back in full. In January 2009, British Energy was bought for approximately £12 billion by EDF Energy (a subsidiary of Électricité de France
Électricité de France
Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...
(EDF)) and Centrica
Centrica
Centrica plc is a multinational utility company, based in the United Kingdom but also with interests in North America. Centrica is the largest supplier of gas to domestic customers in the UK, and one of the largest suppliers of electricity, operating under the trading names "Scottish Gas" in...
(a major operator of CCGT power stations and renewable sources in the UK and parent company of British Gas) in an 80/20 split.
There are several reasons to expect significant improvement if new third generation
Generation III reactor
A generation III reactor is a development of any of the generation II nuclear reactor designs incorporating evolutionary improvements in design developed during the lifetime of the generation II reactor designs...
nuclear power stations are built:
- modern designs are simpler, use fewer materials and require less on-site fabrication
- the designs are internationally standardised, so reducing "first of a kind" costs
- big-project management techniques have improved over the last 15 years
- more competitive international process for letting a nuclear construction contract
- turnkey (fixed price) contracts rather than the cost-plus contracts that were characteristic of past UK nuclear construction
- the most recently built nuclear stations elsewhere in the world (in China and South Korea) have already achieved lower build cost and quicker construction times
As of 2011 no third generation power station has been completed in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to confirm these improvements. Construction of the first such power station, a European Pressurized Reactor
European Pressurized Reactor
The EPR is a third generation pressurized water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome , Electricité de France in France, and Siemens AG in Germany...
at Olkiluoto
Olkiluoto
The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant is on Olkiluoto Island, which is on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia in the municipality of Eurajoki in western Finland. It is one of Finland's two nuclear power plants, the other being the two-unit VVER Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant...
in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, is running at least three years behind schedule, with the parties in arbitration to resolve responsibility for cost overruns, creating doubts that recent improvements sufficiently improve construction costs. The BBC reported in July 2009 that Olkiluoto was running three years and €1.7 billion euro over budget. However some observers suggest that such delays should be expected as this is the first reactor of its kind and the contractors are not used to working to the standards of the nuclear industry. The project is based on a "turnkey" contract which means the price to the customer is fixed regardless of the delays.
Construction of a second reactor of the same design started in 2007 at Flamanville
Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant
The Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant is located at Flamanville, Manche, France on the Cotentin Peninsula.It houses two pressurized water reactors that produce 1300 MWe each and came into service in 1986 and 1987, respectively. It produced 18.9 TWh in 2005, which amounted to 4% of the electricity...
in France, but in 2010 and 2011 EDF announced delays and cost increases that nearly doubled construction time and costs, with an updated completion date of 2016, nine years after the first concrete was poured.
In January 2008, the UK government indicated that it will take steps to encourage private operators to build new nuclear power plants in the coming years to meet projected energy needs as fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
prices climb, however there would be no subsidies from the UK government for nuclear power. The Government hopes that the first station will be operational before 2020. However, the Welsh Assembly Government remains opposed to new nuclear plants in Wales despite the approval of Wylfa as a potential site. Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
has decided against new nuclear power stations (see paragraph below).
In May 2008, the head of the world's largest power company suggested that the Government has significantly underestimated the cost of building new nuclear power plants. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
has reported that Wulf Bernotat, chairman and chief executive of E.ON, estimates that the cost could be as high as €6 billion (£4.8 billion) per plant, which is much higher than the Government's £2.8 billion estimate. The cost of replacing Britain's ten nuclear power stations could therefore reach £48 billion, excluding the cost of decommissioning ageing reactors
Nuclear decommissioning
Nuclear decommissioning is the dismantling of a nuclear power plant and decontamination of the site to a state no longer requiring protection from radiation for the general public...
or dealing with nuclear waste.
Waste management and disposal
Radioactive waste
Radioactive wastes are wastes that contain radioactive material. Radioactive wastes are usually by-products of nuclear power generation and other applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology, such as research and medicine...
is currently held in temporary storage at Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
.
On July 31, 2006, the latest body to consider the issue of long-term waste management - the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) - published its final report . Its main recommendation was that geological disposal
Deep geological repository
A deep geological repository is a nuclear waste repository excavated deep within a stable geologic environment...
should be adopted. This would involve burial at a depth between 200 – 1000m deep in a purpose-built facility with no intention to retrieve the waste in the future. It was concluded that this could not be implemented for several decades, and that there were social and ethical concerns within UK society about the disposal option that would need to be resolved as part of the implementation process. Such a repository should start to be closed as soon as practicable rather than being left open for future generations. 14 additional recommendations were also made.
The report was criticised by David Ball, professor of risk management
Risk management
Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...
at Middlesex University
Middlesex University
Middlesex University is a university in north London, England. It is located in the historic county boundaries of Middlesex from which it takes its name. It is one of the post-1992 universities and is a member of Million+ working group...
who resigned from CoRWM in 2005, who said that it was
based on opinions rather than sound science.
On June 12, 2008, a white paper, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely, A Framework for Implementing Geological Disposal was published confirming CoRWM's conclusion of geologic disposal of higher-activity wastes. The policy announcement confirmed that there would be one geologic disposal site, for both national legacy waste as well as potential wastes from future programs. It announced that a process of volunteerism would be used in selecting a suitable site and invited communities from the UK to express interest. They would be rewarded by the infrastructure investment for the facility, jobs for the long term and a tailored package of benefits.
Decommissioning
The Nuclear Decommissioning AuthorityNuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005...
(NDA), formed in April 2005 under the Energy Act 2004
Energy Act 2004
The Energy Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-Section 198 - Short title, commencement and extent:The following orders have been made under this section:* *...
, oversees and manages the decommissioning and clean-up of the UK's older Magnox
Magnox
Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons...
power plants and the reprocessing facilities at Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
, which were transferred to its ownership from BNFL
BNFL
British Nuclear Fuels Limited was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a former manufacturer and transporter of nuclear fuel , ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel , and decommissioned nuclear plants and other similar...
, and the former nuclear research and development facilities previously run by the UKAEA.
Rising costs
Prior to the 2002 white paperWhite paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
Managing the Nuclear Legacy, the cost of decommissioning these facilities had been estimated at around £42 billion. The white paper estimated the costs at £48 billion at March 2002 prices, an increase of £6bn, with the cost of decommissioning Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
accounting for over 65% of the total. This figure included a rise in BNFL's
BNFL
British Nuclear Fuels Limited was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a former manufacturer and transporter of nuclear fuel , ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel , and decommissioned nuclear plants and other similar...
estimated decommissioning liabilities from £35 billion to £40.5 billion, with an estimate of £7.4 billion for UKAEA
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of nuclear fusion power. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and was formerly chaired by Lady Barbara Judge CBE...
.
In June 2003 the Department of Trade and Industry estimated that decommissioning costs, including the cost of running the facilities still in operation for their remaining life, were approximately £56 billion at 2003 prices, although the figure was 'almost certainly' expected to rise. This estimate was revised in subsequent years; to £57 billion in September 2004; £63 billion in September 2005; £65 billion in March 2006; and to £73 billion in March 2007. Around £46 billion of the £73 billion is for the decommissioning and clean-up of the Sellafield site.
In May 2008 a senior director at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority indicated that the figure of £73 billion might increase by several billion pounds.
British Energy
In addition to The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's costs, British Energy'sBritish Energy
British Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal fired power station....
liabilities in relation to spent nuclear fuels have risen. In February 2006 it was reported that these had increased to £5.3 billion, an increase of almost £1 billion. The costs of handling these is to be met by the Nuclear Liabilities Fund
Nuclear Liabilities Fund
The Nuclear Liabilities Fund is a fund of the UK Government to provide arrangements for funding certain long-term costs for the decommissioning of eight nuclear power stations formerly owned by British Energy...
(NLF), the successor to the Nuclear Generation Decommissioning Fund. Although British Energy contributes to the NLF, the fund is underwritten by the Government. The House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
Public Accounts Committee noted in 2007 that British Energy may lack an incentive to reduce the eventual liabilities falling to the Nuclear Liabilities Fund.
Seismicity
Until the expansion of nuclear power in the 1980s, seismic activity in the UK had not received a great deal of attention. As a result of the new interest in the topic, the British Geological SurveyBritish Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS headquarters are in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, but other centres...
published a catalogue of earthquakes in 1994.
Although earthquakes are relatively frequent, they rarely cause damage to well constructed structures. Two of the largest, estimated at approximately 5.75 (moderate) on the Richter scale
Richter magnitude scale
The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
occurred in 1382 and 1580. Evaluation of past earthquakes indicates that the UK is unlikely to be subject to earthquakes larger than a magnitude of approximately 6.5.
The occurrence of tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
s impacting the UK is rare, with only two (possibly three) having been identified; a 3m high wave as a result of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that took place on Saturday 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by fires and a tsunami, which almost totally destroyed Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, and...
, and a 21m high tsunami in 6100 BC which occurred under very different geological conditions. In recent years there has been an accumulation of evidence indicating that the 1607 Bristol Channel floods
Bristol Channel floods, 1607
The Bristol Channel floods, which occurred on 30 January 1607 , resulted in the drowning of a large number of people and the destruction of a large amount of farmland and livestock...
may also have resulted from a tsunami that rose from a height of 4m to over 6m as it passed up the channel.
A 2005 report for DEFRA
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
, conducted following the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, found that, discounting 'exotic events such as meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
impacts', 'in most plausible circumstances it is likely that such an event would be contained by current defences, designed to resist storm surges, for all major developed areas', however the joint occurrence of events, such as a tsunami coinciding with a storm surge, was discounted. The report did, however call for additional more detailed modelling to be carried out, recommended that the Met Office
Met Office
The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
should provide a tsunami warning service, and that detection devices should be upgraded. A follow-up report indicated that, of the three likely scenarios modelled, a Lisbon-type event would pose the greatest danger, potentially resulting in a tsunami wave exceeding the 1:100 year extreme sea level at the Cornish peninsula by up to 1.4m, but being within the range elsewhere. This conclusion is markedly different from the greater heights calculated by Bryant and Haslett as having been encountered in the Bristol Channel during the 1607 Bristol Channel floods.
Speaking before the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee
Energy and Climate Change Select Committee
The Energy and Climate Change Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that came into existence on 1 January 2009.-Formation:...
on March 15, 2011, about the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
expressed concern over extreme weather events in the UK, but stated that 'we are lucky that we do not have to suffer from tsunamis'.
Accidents
| Date | Location | Description | INES level International Nuclear Event Scale The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to enable prompt communication of safety significance information in case of nuclear accidents.... | Fatalities | Cost (in millions 2006 US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 October 1957 | Windscale | Windscale fire Windscale fire The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in Great Britain's history, ranked in severity at level 5 on the 7-point International Nuclear Event Scale. The two piles had been hurriedly built as part of the British atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in... ignites plutonium piles, with large radioactive release. |
5 | 33 - 120 (estimates; due to increased cancer risk) | 78 |
| 19 April 2005 | Sellafield | 20 tonnes of uranium and 160 kg plutonium leak from a cracked pipe at the Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant | 2 | 0 | 65 |
Public opinion
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
s on unborn children, when clusters of leukaemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
cases were discovered nearby to some of these plants. The effect was speculative because clusters were also found where no nuclear plants were present, and not all plants had clusters around them. Detailed studies carried out by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment
Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment
The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment is a UK-wide advisory committee set up by the British government...
(COMARE) in 2003 found no evidence of raised childhood cancer around nuclear power plants, but did find an excess of leukaemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) near other nuclear installations including Sellafield
Sellafield
Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. The site is served by Sellafield railway station. Sellafield is an off-shoot from the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale which is currently undergoing...
, AWE
Atomic Weapons Establishment
The Atomic Weapons Establishment is responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent. AWE plc is responsible for the day-to-day operations of AWE...
Burghfield
Burghfield
Burghfield is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, close to the boundary with Reading.-Location:Burghfield is about southwest of Reading...
and UKAEA Dounreay
Dounreay
Dounreay is the site of several nuclear research establishments located on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland...
. COMARE's opinion is that "the excesses around Sellafield and Dounreay are unlikely to be due to chance, although there is not at present a convincing explanation for them".
An opinion poll in Britain in 2002 by MORI on behalf of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
showed large support for wind energy and a majority for putting an end to nuclear energy if the costs were the same. In November 2005 a YouGov
YouGov
YouGov, formerly known as PollingPoint in the United States, is an international internet-based market research firm launched in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare, now Chief Executive Officer, and Nadhim Zahawi...
poll conducted by business advisory firm Deloitte found that 36% of the UK population supported the use of nuclear power, though 62% would support an energy policy that combines nuclear along with renewable technologies. The same survey also revealed an unrealistic public expectation for the future rate of renewables development - with 35% expecting the majority of electricity to come from renewables in only 15 years, which is more than double the government's expectation.
In the early 2000s there was a heated discussion about nuclear waste, leading to the creation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (see above).
A large nationally representative 2010 British survey about energy issues found that public opinion is divided on the issue of nuclear power. The majority of people are concerned about nuclear power and public trust in the government and nuclear industry remains relatively low. The survey showed that there is a clear preference for renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
sources over nuclear power.
According to a national opinion poll, support for nuclear power in the UK dropped by twelve percent following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Other polls have shown the opposite trend, with support increasing following the Fukushima disaster.
Nuclear power in Scotland
Though the UK Government has recently given the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power stations to be built, the Scottish Government has made clear that no new nuclear power stations will be built in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and is aiming instead for a non-nuclear future. This was made clear when, First Minister
First Minister of Scotland
The First Minister of Scotland is the political leader of Scotland and head of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Scottish Government policy...
Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond MSP is a Scottish politician and current First Minister of Scotland. He became Scotland's fourth First Minister in May 2007. He is the Leader of the Scottish National Party , having served as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon...
said there was 'no chance' of any new nuclear power stations being built in Scotland. The Government's stance has been backed by the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
that voted 63-58 to support the Scottish Government's policy of opposing new nuclear power stations.
About half of Scotland's electricity comes from the Hunterston B and Torness nuclear power plants. Scottish leaders hope to replace these with renewables when they close in 2016 and 2023 respectively.
Operating
| Power Station | Type | Net MWe | Construction started | Connected to grid | Commercial operation | Accounting closure date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldbury Oldbury nuclear power station Oldbury nuclear power station is a nuclear power station located on the south bank of the River Severn close to the village of Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. It is operated by Magnox North Limited, on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority... |
Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
434 | 1962 | 1967 | 1968 | 2012 |
| Wylfa | Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
980 | 1963 | 1971 | 1972 | 2012 |
| Dungeness B | AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1110 | 1965 | 1983 | 1985 | 2018 |
| Hinkley Point B Hinkley Point B nuclear power station Hinkley Point B is a nuclear power station near Bridgwater, Somerset, on the Bristol Channel coast of south west England.-History:The construction of Hinkley Point B, which was undertaken by a consortium known as The Nuclear Power Group , started in 1967. The reactors were supplied by TNPG and the... |
AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1220 | 1967 | 1976 | 1976 | 2016 |
| Hunterston B Hunterston B nuclear power station Hunterston B Power Station is a nuclear power station in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located about 9 km south of Largs and about 4 km north-west of West Kilbride. It is operated by EDF Energy... |
AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1190 | 1967 | 1976 | 1976 | 2016 |
| Hartlepool | AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1210 | 1968 | 1983 | 1989 | 2019 |
| Heysham 1 | AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1150 | 1970 | 1983 | 1989 | 2019 |
| Heysham 2 | AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1250 | 1980 | 1988 | 1989 | 2023 |
| Torness Torness nuclear power station Torness nuclear power station was the last of the United Kingdom's second generation nuclear power plants to be commissioned. Construction of this facility began in 1980 for the then South of Scotland Electricity Board and it was commissioned in 1988... |
AGR Advanced gas-cooled reactor An advanced gas-cooled reactor is a type of nuclear reactor. These are the second generation of British gas-cooled reactors, using graphite as the neutron moderator and carbon dioxide as coolant... |
1250 | 1980 | 1988 | 1988 | 2023 |
| Sizewell B | PWR | 1188 | 1988 | 1995 | 1995 | 2035 |
Since 2006 Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B have been restricted to about 70% of normal MWe output because of boiler-related problems requiring that they operate at reduced boiler temperatures. This output restriction is likely to remain until closure.
The Oldbury and Wylfa stations are the World's last two operational generation I reactors.
In 2010, EDF Energy announced a 5 year life extension for both Heysham 1 and Hartlepool to enable further generation until 2019.
Retired
| Power Station | Type | Net MWe | Construction started | Connected to grid | Commercial operation | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calder Hall | Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
200 | 1953 | 1956 | 1959 | 2003 |
| Chapelcross Chapelcross nuclear power station Chapelcross was a Magnox nuclear power plant located near the town of Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland. It was the sister plant to Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, both commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.The primary purpose of... |
Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
240 | 1955 | 1959 | 1960 | 2004 |
| Berkeley Berkeley nuclear power station Berkeley nuclear power station is a disused Magnox power station situated on the bank of the River Severn in Gloucestershire, England.-History:The construction of the power station, which was undertaken by a consortium of AEI and John Thompson began in 1956.... |
Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
276 | 1957 | 1962 | 1962 | 1989 |
| Bradwell | Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
246 | 1957 | 1962 | 1962 | 2002 |
| Hunterston A Hunterston A nuclear power station Hunterston A nuclear power station was a Magnox power station located at Hunterston in Ayrshire, Scotland, adjacent to Hunterston B and is currently being decommissioned.-History:... |
Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
300 | 1957 | 1964 | 1964 | 1990 |
| Hinkley Point A Hinkley Point A nuclear power station Hinkley Point A nuclear power station was a Magnox power station located on a site in Somerset on the Bristol Channel coast, west of the River Parrett estuary.-History:... |
Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
470 | 1957 | 1965 | 1965 | 2000 |
| Trawsfynydd Trawsfynydd nuclear power station Trawsfyndd nuclear power station is a disused Magnox power station situated at Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd, Wales.-History:Construction of the power station, which was undertaken by a consortium involving Crompton Parkinson, International Combustion, Fairey Engineering and Richardsons Westgarth, and... |
Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
390 | 1959 | 1965 | 1965 | 1991 |
| Dungeness A | Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
450 | 1960 | 1965 | 1965 | 2006 |
| Sizewell A | Magnox Magnox Magnox is a now obsolete type of nuclear power reactor which was designed and is still in use in the United Kingdom, and was exported to other countries, both as a power plant, and, when operated accordingly, as a producer of plutonium for nuclear weapons... |
420 | 1961 | 1966 | 1966 | 2006 |
A number of research and development reactors also produced some power for the grid, including two Winfrith
Winfrith
Winfrith was a United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority site near Winfrith Newburgh in Dorset. It covered an area on Bovington Heath to the west of the village of Wool between the A352 road and the London Waterloo to Weymouth railway line....
reactors, two Dounreay
Dounreay
Dounreay is the site of several nuclear research establishments located on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of Scotland...
fast reactors, and the prototype Windscale Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor.
See also
- Nuclear energy policyNuclear energy policyNuclear energy policy is a national and international policy concerning some or all aspects of nuclear energy, such as mining for nuclear fuel, extraction and processing of nuclear fuel from the ore, generating electricity by nuclear power, enriching and storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel...
- Economics of new nuclear power plantsEconomics of new nuclear power plantsThe economics of new nuclear power plants is a controversial subject, since there are diverging views on this topic, and multi-billion dollar investments ride on the choice of an energy source...
- Nuclear or Not?Nuclear or Not?Nuclear or Not? Does Nuclear Power Have a Place in a Sustainable Energy Future? is a 2007 book edited by Professor David Elliott. The book offers various views and perspectives on nuclear power...
- Politics of the United KingdomPolitics of the United KingdomThe politics of the United Kingdom takes place within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is the head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government...
External links
- Images and details of Nuclear power plants in England
- Estimated closure dates of the existing nuclear power stations, House of LordsHouse of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
HansardHansardHansard is the name of the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, an early printer and publisher of these transcripts.-Origins:...
column WA232, 24 Feb 2005 - 10-year life extension at Dungeness B nuclear power station, British EnergyBritish EnergyBritish Energy was the UK's largest electricity generation company by volume, before being taken over by Électricité de France in 2009. British Energy operated eight former UK state-owned nuclear power stations and one coal fired power station....
, 15 September 2005 - bellona.no
- World Nuclear Association - Nuclear Power in the United Kingdom
- Committee on Radioactive Waste Management
- British Energy
- British Nuclear Group
- National Nuclear Laboratory
- BNFL
- No New Nukes - Anti Nuclear Power Campaign Group
- Greenpeace UK - Anti Nuclear Power
- Supporters of Nuclear Energy (SONE) - Pro Nuclear Power
- BBC News Special - Nuclear Power in the UK
- Nuclear Power in the UK - Past, Present & Future, Robert Hawley - former CEO of Nuclear Electric and British Energy, World Nuclear AssociationWorld Nuclear AssociationThe World Nuclear Association , formerly the Uranium Institute, is an international organization that promotes nuclear power and supports the many companies that comprise the global nuclear industry...
Annual Symosium 2006 - Histories and memories, Ray Hall - former CEO of Magnox Electric, Nuclear Energy, April 2002, pages 107–120
- Going Critical: An Unofficial History of British Nuclear Power, Walter C. Patterson, Paladin, 1985, ISBN 0-586-08516-5
- Nuclear in the UK – where did it go wrong?, Steve Kidd, Nuclear Engineering International, 26 August 2009
- U.K. Government Nuclear-Power Inquiry `Failed,' Academics Say
- Taxpayer liable for nuclear clean-up
- Lack of engineers puts government's nuclear power ambitions at risk
- The nuclear reaction - A tour of Britain's nuclear power stations