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Uk’s new nuclear reactor designs likely to become a financial drain, warns Stephen Chu

Steven Chu warns UK its nuclear plans risk becoming financial drain

Former US energy chief and Nobel physicist says UK plan to build various types of reactors is expensive and time-consuming  Terry Macalister  The Guardian,  17 November 2014  “……Steven Chu, the former US energy secretary and Nobel prizewinning physicist, believes using a variety of reactor designs – as the UK looks poised to do – is not the best way to keep costs down.

“Unless we can learn to build nuclear on schedule and on budget it will be a financial drain. ………

“That is true of all industries. If you build exactly the same its get cheaper, cheaper, cheaper. ……..

Atomic plants being built in Finland and France are much more expensive than forecast and are suffering significant delays but EDF, the company planning to build Hinkley Point C reactors in Somerset, says it will learn from those mistakes. While EDF plans to use an “EPR” design at Hinkley and possibly at Sizewell in Suffolk, other developers in Britain are planning different models……….

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November 17, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK

3 Comments »

1. He also makes suggestion as how to fix this problem, citing Korea as an example and is quoted as saying ” I know England is looking at another generation of nuclear reactors which I am in favour of”

   Comment by Guy Gadois | November 20, 2014 | Reply

   • Yes, he is in fact, a nuclear power enthusiast. Makes it even more remarkable that he even noticed the financial problem!

     Comment by Christina MacPherson | November 21, 2014 | Reply

2. I try, although it’s difficult at time, to avoid the Climate Change Deniers model of cherry picking and selective quoting. At the moment the UK for example is sudsidising both nuclear and renewables by offering them a strike price (called CfD) as a minimum price. The market will play out as it will, but at the moment off-shore wind is getting a strike price of £155/MWh and nuclear £85/MWh. The Climate Change deniers will attack both. Darwin said “ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge”. It’s my philosophy to give people all the facts and see if they agree with me, so I do try and check the original source. I may end up being wrong about some things, but I don’t intend, if you have all the facts at hand it’s hard to be more than 90% certain you’re right. it’s easy to be 100% certain if you only read things you agree with.

   Comment by Guy Gadois | November 22, 2014 | Reply

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