Finally some good news about the UK new nuclear build 

The Liberal Party signs up for the nation's energy future

It is good news when the foreign secretary of the U.K. government delivers a speech that is talking about the future of the nation's new nuclear build. William Hague told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York Sept 27 the UK intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants to replace the current fleet. The primary objective, Hague said, is to insure the U.K. meets its goals to reduce carbon emissions.

"We will have from 2020 onward an expanding nuclear power sector . . . we are opening the door to build them."

Hague said the government sees "no alternative" to building the new reactors given the carbon emissions that would come from new coal-fired or natural gas power plants.

Hague said the world must adopt a sense of urgency in addressing the issue of climate change.

The speech, and others like it by leading politicians in the UK coalition government, represents a reversal of a decidedly anti-nuclear view that the election last May brought with it. A cadre of politicians came to power who built their base with anti-nuclear appeals to green groups. Chief among them was Chris Huhne, now the energy minister, who made his money as an executive with the Fitch financial rating service. Despite a political deal with the Conservatives to stand down during votes in parliament on nuclear energy issues, Huhne gave a series of interviews with the news media that made his opposition clear.

These statements rattled the utilities planning to build new nuclear reactors. Manufacturing firms and the business community were alarmed that Huhe's public infatuation with wind, solar, and tidal power would mean lights out for the nation's electrical grid.

A signature decision by the coalition government which threatened to hurl the entire U.K. nuclear industry into the dustbin of history was the cancellation of the government loan to Sheffied Forgemasters. Conservative PM David Cameron wrongly accused the firm’s management of being unwilling to issue shares to raise capital. If the loan had gone through, the money would have paid for construction of a new manufacturing plant to build 400 ton reactor vessel components.

The situation has been improving since August of this year when the coalition government realized that it really did need to replace the nation's aging nuclear reactors and the North Sea oil and gas fields do in fact have a finite life. The first in a series of important signals came Sept 13 when Vincent Cable , the government's business secretary, and a skeptic on the issue of nuclear energy, spoke to a suppliers' day event hosted by EDF.

Oil & Gas executive speaks up for nukes

Cable, (right) who once worked for oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell, told the vendors looking to fill order books with components for EDF's twin reactors at Hinkley Point that investments in them would help the nation's economy.

"These projects can help revitalize entire sectors of the British economy and create a UK industry with the skills to export and compete around the world."

This is music to the ears of vendors of nuclear components in the UK even if the country has only one major supplier, Rolls Royce, which for years has been the mainstay of the country's nuclear submarine fleet.

The first reactors to be built in the UK will be at Hinkley Point. EDF will lead the construction of the first of four reactors there. The first unit is expected to enter revenue service by 2018. EDF told the same energy conference so far it has issued procurement orders for {L}50 million to 150 UK firms. He added the construction of the reactor will employ 5,000 people.

EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz (left) told the conference nuclear component manufacturers must hire workers with high tech skills and obtain the UK equivalent of the ASME N-Stamp and other certifications to insure the quality of the reactors.

Rivaz stressed that the UK must set a minimum price on carbon emissions to push investment from fossil to nuclear power projects. The UK government has stated it will not support the new nuclear build with loan guarantees or other "subsidies."

Speaking in Vienna Sept 21, Austria, at an IAEA conference, UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry said the government is still working on establishing a price for carbon emissions. He added the government is determined to see the construction of the first reactor at Hinkley break ground by 2013. It is expected to cost {L}6 billion.

And not to be left out of the picture, Chris Huhne told his fellow Liberal Democrats Sept 21:

"I am fed up with the stand-off between renewable and nuclear energy which means we will have neither. We will have both. We will have low carbon energy and security of supply"

Forgemasters still a sticking point

The UK coalition government is under pressure to reverse an ill-advised decision made earlier this year to withdraw a loan to Sheffield Forgemasters. The funds would have been used to build a huge factory to make the reactor pressure vessels for new plants. Currently, most of them are made at Japan Steel Works where these is a four-year backlog.

On Sep 30 Lord Digby Jones, the former leader of the Confederation of British Industry, a heavyweight group in any UK political book, made a speech in which he called on the government to issue the loan. He said in doing so it would make the firm, and the UK, "a global leader in the nuclear power generation supply chain.

In an attack on the deficit reduction focus of the government, Digby said, "The coalition government has failed to understand the difference between paying for the past and investing in the future."

He added it was pointless to offer Nissan industry development subsidies to build an electric car plant in the UK if the power for the cars is going to come from coal-fired utilities.

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