The United Kingdom wants 25% of its energy from nuclear and invests heavily in the sector
The UK has announced a major expansion of nuclear power generation capacity, described by the government as “the biggest expansion of nuclear power in 70 years”.
“Nuclear is the perfect antidote to the energy challenges facing Britain: it is green, cheaper in the long run and will ensure the UK's energy security,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, quoted by the media.
“This is the right long-term decision and is the next step in our commitment to nuclear energy, putting us on track to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in a measured and sustainable way,” Sunak added.
An initial investment will be in independence in the production of nuclear fuel, with £300 million invested in a plant to produce advanced fissile material needed for next generation power plants, freeing itself from dependence on Russian supplies.
The news comes following a recent report that France's EDF plans to extend the life of the nuclear power plants it operates in the UK. The company said it will invest the equivalent of about $1.65 billion in the initiative, with the aim of maintaining current levels of energy production from its nuclear power plants until at least 2026.
“These life times will be reviewed again by the end of 2024 and the ambition is to generate beyond current forecasts, subject to plant inspections and regulatory approvals,” EDF said.
Nuclear power, which many climate activists accuse of not being green or renewable enough, has recently made a comeback, except in Germany and Spain. The rest of the world, however, seems to have realized that the race to zero emissions will not happen without nuclear power, as was declared at COP28 last year.
The UK has some of the most ambitious transition targets, with a massive increase in wind capacity in the plans. However, it is also struggling to stem a cost-of-living crisis that some local energy policy commentators have blamed on those same plans.
The country's current nuclear power capacity of 6 GW is spread across nine reactors at five sites. Six more reactors have been closed since 2021. Two more sites are planned to be built, one of them with a capacity of more than 3 GW. By 2050, the country's government plans to have a capacity of 24 GW , meeting a quarter of the UK's overall energy demand.
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The article The UK wants 25% of its energy from nuclear and invests heavily in the sector comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/regno-unito-investe-sul-nucleare/ on Thu, 11 Jan 2024 10:00:15 +0000.