Civil Nuclear Power can make an enormous contribution to sustainable and efficient energy production in the UK by offering plentiful and affordable electricity with the lowest carbon footprint of all power generating technologies.
Security of Supply
Unlike all other technologies (power generation from fossil fuels or renewables) the nuclear option will enable us to be self sufficient, providing security of supply with a ready source of low carbon energy to meet our growing electricity needs for years to come.
Affordable link
The nuclear option is not linked to market prices for oil and gas and is, at the very least, cost competitive with other forms of electricity production in the UK. It should be noted that in France, where nuclear power generation is the dominant technology, the price for electricity per kilowatt/hour to the consumer is just over half of what we pay in the UK.
Clean and green
Nuclear power is clean, environmentally friendly and immediately convertible into energy for the National Grid. The methods for the disposal of the very small amount of waste produced by the reactors are well known, and need only political decision to implement. The nuclear solution offers the lowest carbon emissions available today and is mistakenly not included in the EC’s low carbon/renewable energy agenda. It should be.
Safe solution to Nuclear Waste
The problem of nuclear waste, foremost in the minds of most consumers, is well on the way to being solved. A new Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, (CoRWM II), is well staffed with scientists and technologists preparing to report on this at the end of 2008.
The design of new build power plants is “passively” safe; they shut themselves down without the need for additional systems if any abnormality of operation occurs.
Decommissioning will be simpler as the size and complexity of the plant is reduced and as provision for it is built into the design. Waste will be much smaller in volume as much will be “burned up” in situ.
The Nuclear Industry is the most closely regulated and monitored industry in the world.
In the short to medium term, nuclear energy is the only practical solution to both increased electricity generating demands and to reduce CO2 emissions effectively.
Over 30% of the electricity in the European Union is generated by nuclear power. The UK currently has 19 operating reactors at 10 power stations, which provide approximately 20% of the electricity in the UK. Without these, emissions of CO2 would be significantly higher in the UK.
A nuclear station consumes much smaller amounts of fuel per unit of electricity generated, than a fossil fuel station, some 40 tonnes of uranium fuel per annum as opposed to some 3 million tonnes of coal per annum at stations of comparable generation capacity. (Source: Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). Note: this assumes that no uranium is recovered for recycling in a Fast Breeder type system.