Update on nuclear renaissance in the U.K. 

Energy issues are a top priority in the U.K.  Significant challenges are driving decisions to invest in multiple new nuclear reactors at 11 sites to be built over the next two decades. The first units are expected to be online by 2017.  This round of construction could develop 16-30 GWe of nuclear powered electricity by 2030.

The key issues are the original generation of 19 nuclear plants built in the 1970s and 80s are getting older. The first plant began operating in 1956. Some units will be decommissioned in the next five years. All but one of them will be retired by 2023. Second, natural gas supplies from the North Sea fields have a finite life. Third, the nation can't go back to building new coal plants because of the U.K.'s commitments to cutting greenhouse gases.

Reactor site lineup

In March the first two reactor sites were selected for development. Horizon Energy, a consortium of European utilities RWE and E.ON, will build 3,600 MW at Wylfa Wales and another 1,600-2,400 MW at Oldbury in Gloucestershire. Reactor vendors Areva and Westinghouse are in competition to supply equipment for these sites.

Next up British Energy and Electricie de France are proposing to build 3,300 MW of nuclear powered generation capacity at Hinkley Point in Somerset and at Sizewell in Suffolk. All four reactors will be Areva EPRs at 1,650 MW each.

Finally, a consortium composed of Spanish utility Iberdrola, Franch construction giant GDF Suez, and U.K. utility Scottish & Southern has plans for 3,600 MW using an as yet unspecified reactor design at Sellafield in Cumbria.

Roadblocks ahead

Two significant roadblocks loom ahead of these ambitious plans. The first is anti-nuclear political sentiment expressing itself in the well-known "not in my backyard" or NIMBY paradigm. The second is how to use carbon taxes to pay for the reactors. The government has emphasized that all of the new reactors will be financed through a combination of carbon tax-and-trade and private sector investment. This policy also has generated political opposition due to the already high cost of energy paid by consumers in the U.K.

Horizon said this week that unless site location issues are resolved, new nuclear power station at Oldbury could be delayed by up to five years.

A revised construction schedule released by the consortium last week shows ground breaking in 2016, followed by main construction in 2019 and completion by 2025 - five years later than in the announced schedule. The reason is local political leaders have raised objections about the site. Local site permits are in the hands of these elected officials.

Tim Proudler, Horizon Nuclear Power's Planning and Consents Manager for Oldbury, told a U.K. Power Engineering Journal, "We are confident that the Oldbury site meets all of the criteria set out by the Government as part of its Strategic Siting Assessment for new nuclear development."

"Wylfa and Oldbury are both strong sites but once we decided a phased approach was sensible we needed to make a choice on which to build first".

"We would like to make use of the additional time at Oldbury to work with our key stakeholders and the public to develop our ideas further."

Reuters reported that Alan Raymant, Chief Operating Officer at Horizon Nuclear Power said. "New nuclear power would make a vital contribution to meeting the country's energy needs and tackling the challenge of climate change."

The plant could create up to 800 permanent high-quality jobs, rising to 1,000 during maintenance periods and around 5,000 during construction.

Cut out the protests – Conservative Party

In response to opposition about the planned locations of new plants, the Conservative Party unveiled a new energy policy paper setting out rules that would make it harder for protesters to hold up new nuclear plants.

The Telegraph reported march 19 that under the Conservative plans, new planning statements allowing the building of nuclear stations will be directly approved by Parliament, meaning protesters would not be able to seek judicial review and delay construction

“Nuclear power is proven technology,” the paper says, criticizing Labour for allowing the share of total power production from nuclear power to fall.

The pledge marks a shift for the Conservatives, who had previously said new nuclear stations should only be a "last resort".

Greg Clark, the Tory energy spokesman, said the party was now clearly committed to new nuclear power.

He said: “In the past, we haven't been entirely clear – this is a very clear statement that we are in favor of nuclear power.”

Conservatives plan carbon tax program

Nukenet reported Britain’s opposition Conservative Party has unveiled a “radical” energy policy that that includes support for nuclear power and a promise to encourage investment in the sector by pushing for reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

In an energy manifesto published March 19, just weeks before an expected general election, the Conservative Party says that the existing Labour government’s policies mean that new nuclear capacity will not be ready until towards the end of the decade.

The manifesto says: “Our reforms to energy policy will ensure that this failure to anticipate and prepare for the future can never happen again.”

It says a credible and sustainable price for carbon is vital if the U.K. is to see investment in new electricity generation. Whatever the carbon content of electricity generated, operators considering new investments in plant with a life of several decades need to know where they stand.

The Conservatives would push for the reform of the ETS, which was designed to be the primary mechanism by which the market could determine the cost of carbon.

The manifesto says the experience of the ETS has been of “such price volatility and market uncertainty” that it has had the opposite of its intended effect: it has made long-term investments more risky and therefore more costly, and so less likely to be made.

A carbon floor price will provide a reliable signal for investment in all forms of low carbon energy including nuclear.

By 1997 nuclear provided 26 percent of the UK’s electricity, but from 1997 to the present day, the nuclear share of the generating mix halved to 13 percent – and will continue to fall as all but one of the country’s nuclear power plants retire by 2023, the manifesto says.

The Conservatives say that by 2020 the UK will become increasingly reliant on imports as North Sea oil and gas production goes into steep decline, while one third of current electricity generating capacity will close.

Unless the UK diversifies its energy mix, it will become ever more reliant on fossil fuel imports just as the world enters “a new era of global energy insecurity” in which production becomes concentrated in unstable and sometimes hostile parts of the world, and struggles to meet growing demand driven by China and the other emerging industrial giants.

Greenhouse gas emission cuts hang in the balance

The U.K. has committed itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. It is a no brainer to Liberals and Conservatives alike that nuclear energy is essential as a means of achieving this goal. Nuclear energy would have to rise from 19% of the nation's capacity for carbon-emission free electricity generation to 40% by 2030. This means an increase of from 16 GWe in 2010 to 30 GWe in the next 20 years.

The U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering writes in a report released in March [full text PDF file] that "there is no silver bullet" for achieving the government's goal for greenhouse gas reductions, but that nuclear plays an essential role. Significantly, the Guardian reports that energy efficiency is a critical success factor. Renewal energy technologies also play a role. Most important, the report says the time for hand wringing and NIMBY battles is over. In an urgent call for action, the Academy writes . . .

"The timescales involved in re-engineering the UK’s energy systems to respond to the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be measured in decades and some of the assets put in place to do this will have economic lifetimes of over 50 years. There is no more time left for further consultations. Equally, there is no time left to wait for new technical developments or innovation. We have to commit to new plant and supporting infrastructure now.

Only the low-carbon technologies that are already known can make a significant contribution to meeting the 2050 targets. To meet the 80% target we have to use what we already understand."

Even more interesting is the Academy calls for a new infusion of national will to achieve the greenhouse gas targets. Keep in mind these are engineers talking and not academics. For a group used to seeking technological solutions, the following conclusion is simply breathtaking.

"The experience of engineers shows that turning the theoretical emissions reduction targets into reality will require more than political will: it will require nothing short of the biggest peacetime program of change ever seen in the UK."

~ ~ ~

"Despite positive steps, such as the creation of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, current government structures, including market regulation, are, as yet, simply not adequate for the task. [The government must] . . . provide the clear and stable long-term framework for business and the public that is not currently in evidence."

There is a nuclear renaissance unfolding in the U.K. Even the engineers realize that meeting climate change goals will require enormous changes in several sectors of society. Building nuclear reactors is a necessary part of the solution, but by themselves, the plants are not sufficient. This places the nuclear renaissance in a whole new ball game, one which requires the nation to re-think energy and society.

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