United Kingdom 69
decarbonisation strategy due to its relatively low climate impact compared with
coal and oil, as well as its relatively low price. However, if these dynamics are
maintained in the short to medium term, major changes will be needed to meet
long- term targets. Natural gas is incompatible with a successful decarbonisation
process, although it is imaginable that gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS)
could help decarbonise the electricity system. We have excluded it from this
research. This is for two reasons: it is not clear that CCS will become commercially
available; and none of the stakeholders at our consultation meetings raised CCS as
an important low- carbon option. In addition, large- scale continued use of gas raises
uncertainties for long- term energy security. With the UK government also aiming
for a complete phase out of coal by 2025, new nuclear and renewable resources
become central for genuine decarbonisation in the UK electricity system. Reductions in energy demand would also help facilitate this decarbonisation process by
reducing the amount of new generating investment required. However, consideration of energy demand reduction is beyond the scope of this chapter.
Nuclear power policy
Nuclear power is a low- carbon electricity technology, able to contribute to electricity supply on a potentially large scale. However, nuclear power involves multiple risks such as safety (including cyber- security), radioactive waste
management, and potential nuclear weapons proliferation. Its economic sustainability is uncertain and there is also potential for negative social impacts. In
addition, UK nuclear development is characterised by a high degree of international interdependency, with firms and public bodies from multiple countries
involved in the deployment of new nuclear power stations and with
EURATOM (the European Agency for Nuclear Power) playing a central role in
these interdependency dynamics.
Major changes in UK energy policy since 2003 have included a revival of
political support for new nuclear power. From the 2008 Climate Change Act
onwards, there has been steady policy support for new nuclear power, both in
terms of investment incentives and regulation. In 2015, the Conservative
administration announced a ‘policy re- set’ for energy and electricity. This re- set
was confirmed in the recently published Clean Growth Strategy (CGS), endorsing political commitment to new nuclear power (HM Government, 2017).
At present, the UK has some 9 GW (gigawatts) of operational nuclear capacity, providing about 21% of all UK electricity demand (DUKES, 2017). All
but one of these nuclear plants is expected to close before 2030, although no
serious plans for closure yet exist. Moreover, unlike anywhere else in Europe,
the UK government has ambitions for a significant future build- up of new
nuclear capacity. In a 2013 publication (HM Government, 2013), the UK government suggested that new nuclear capacity might be somewhere between
16 GW and 75 GW by 2050, with 16 GW being the minimum target. An
increasing reliance on new nuclear is therefore currently planned in the UK as a
major contributor to achieving ambitious decarbonisation commitments. It has
decarbonisation strategy due to its relatively low climate impact compared with
coal and oil, as well as its relatively low price. However, if these dynamics are
maintained in the short to medium term, major changes will be needed to meet
long- term targets. Natural gas is incompatible with a successful decarbonisation
process, although it is imaginable that gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS)
could help decarbonise the electricity system. We have excluded it from this
research. This is for two reasons: it is not clear that CCS will become commercially
available; and none of the stakeholders at our consultation meetings raised CCS as
an important low- carbon option. In addition, large- scale continued use of gas raises
uncertainties for long- term energy security. With the UK government also aiming
for a complete phase out of coal by 2025, new nuclear and renewable resources
become central for genuine decarbonisation in the UK electricity system. Reductions in energy demand would also help facilitate this decarbonisation process by
reducing the amount of new generating investment required. However, consideration of energy demand reduction is beyond the scope of this chapter.
Nuclear power policy
Nuclear power is a low- carbon electricity technology, able to contribute to electricity supply on a potentially large scale. However, nuclear power involves multiple risks such as safety (including cyber- security), radioactive waste
management, and potential nuclear weapons proliferation. Its economic sustainability is uncertain and there is also potential for negative social impacts. In
addition, UK nuclear development is characterised by a high degree of international interdependency, with firms and public bodies from multiple countries
involved in the deployment of new nuclear power stations and with
EURATOM (the European Agency for Nuclear Power) playing a central role in
these interdependency dynamics.
Major changes in UK energy policy since 2003 have included a revival of
political support for new nuclear power. From the 2008 Climate Change Act
onwards, there has been steady policy support for new nuclear power, both in
terms of investment incentives and regulation. In 2015, the Conservative
administration announced a ‘policy re- set’ for energy and electricity. This re- set
was confirmed in the recently published Clean Growth Strategy (CGS), endorsing political commitment to new nuclear power (HM Government, 2017).
At present, the UK has some 9 GW (gigawatts) of operational nuclear capacity, providing about 21% of all UK electricity demand (DUKES, 2017). All
but one of these nuclear plants is expected to close before 2030, although no
serious plans for closure yet exist. Moreover, unlike anywhere else in Europe,
the UK government has ambitions for a significant future build- up of new
nuclear capacity. In a 2013 publication (HM Government, 2013), the UK government suggested that new nuclear capacity might be somewhere between
16 GW and 75 GW by 2050, with 16 GW being the minimum target. An
increasing reliance on new nuclear is therefore currently planned in the UK as a
major contributor to achieving ambitious decarbonisation commitments. It has