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Monday 28 November 2022 at 7:20 am
The government needs to approve a pipeline of projects to boost nuclear power’s role in the UK’s energy mix, the head of a leading industry group has argued.
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA), said: City AM. that “there was a sense of impatience with the time it was taking to make decisions.”
He said: “The current Prime Minister and his two predecessors have all made statements that we need more nuclear power, and have reaffirmed the Energy Security Strategy. But there is a danger that the urgency suggested by that strategy may not match the pace of decision-making to make it happen.
Industry bosses have warned that the proposed upcoming projects are insufficient to meet the government’s energy security goals, with the UK’s aging fleet still in urgent need of replacement.
Currently, four power plants are set to de-commission by the end of the decade, taking about 6GW of power offline.
He said: “The lifetime expansion of Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, plus Sizewell B will leave us with even fewer nuclear gigawatts of capacity. So, you’re not replacing what we lose by doing that.”
EDF has overseen the construction of Hinkley Point C, which is expected to cost £26bn and open in 2027, leaving the project two years late and approximately £8bn over-budget.
It is also managing the development of Sizewell C, which has been backed with £700m in government backing and is likely to be selected for public funding through a regulated asset base model in the next 12-18 months.
The two plants, which are almost identical in design, will provide a combined 6.4GW of power, enough to support 12m homes and make up about 14 percent of the country’s energy mix.
This is a huge contribution of energy from just two power plants, but is less than the combined current generation capacity of the UK’s aging energy fleet – which has fallen to 18 per cent following the closure of Hinckley Point B and Hunterston B earlier this year. .
It is also well short of the 25 percent target in the government’s Energy Security Strategy.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and global pressure to drastically cut carbon emissions, Downing Street is keen to reduce the UK’s reliance on foreign suppliers of gas to meet its energy needs.
The Energy Security Strategy, unveiled in April, includes highly ambitious targets for nuclear power – aiming to increase power from 7GW to 24GW over the next three decades.
Greattrax argued that this goal would require a large pipeline of projects rather than focusing on one project after another.
He said: “Since the 1990s, we have taken a lot of time to make decisions to enable things and have done so. We have not thought of a program that maximizes supply chain benefits or delivery efficiency.
Rolls-Royce fears supply crunch amid uncertainty
Nuclear power continues to be criticized for its heavy upfront costs, although Greatrax argued that developing the pipeline would not only provide the certainty needed for funding – but would also make the plants cheaper.
This was particularly the case with small, modular reactors (SMRs), which provide low-cost projects with low output.
However, companies involved in SMR such as Rolls-Royce were still seeking approval from regulators for their 470MW reactor designs.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt failed to refer to SMRs in the Autumn Statement, while backing Sizewell with funding.
Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium that wants to build around 30 SMRs across the UK, which will be put together in a factory, cutting costs and reducing the time it takes to build them.
However, with each plant expected to cost £2bn, it needs the support of customers ahead of time – which were difficult to attract without government approval for its design.
Greatrex explained: “Once you do the first job, those factories will do the next, the next, the next, the next, the next. This is the whole proposition for modular design but unless there is enough clarity about what is needed, it becomes difficult to justify why you build a factory.”
Tom Samson, head of Rolls-Royce’s SMR business, urged the government last week to open talks about possible support for his plant.
“It’s really important that we take action now,” Samson told a committee of MPs.
He feared that if the next two to three years were spent just talking about building more nuclear power, it would “really hit consumers in the 2030s”.
The government has provided Rolls-Royce with £210m of funding, with its consortium not matching it, to take the overall funding to more than £500m.
According to The Telegraph, Ineos is also in early talks with Rolls-Royce to build a mini-nuclear power station to power its Grangemouth chemical refinery.
This reflects investment appetite in the revived nuclear sector, but also reveals frustration over SMR development with Rolls-Royce diversifying into other projects.
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