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The role of nuclear in the UK’s energy mix.

In 2022, nuclear power provided 13.9% of total electricity supplied in the UK. However, as the table below [on original] illustrates, its contribution has fallen significantly since
the 1990s, when it provided around a quarter of the UK’s total
electricity supply.

Since 1995 there have been eight nuclear plant
closures, with no new plants coming online, reducing installed nuclear
capacity reducing by more than a quarter.

Declining nuclear capacity has
been (more than) compensated for by the rise of renewable energy, whose
share of electricity generation rose from 3% in 2000 to 42% in 2022.

The chief scientist of Greenpeace UK, Dr Doug Parr, said that the nuclear
industry was making “speculative claims” regarding the proposed
benefits of SMRs relative to conventional nuclear power. He said that
“SMRs have no track record, but initial indications are that the familiar
problems of cost overruns and delays will be repeated”.

In addition to these concerns, Steve Thomas, an emeritus professor of energy policy at the
University of Greenwich, suggests that the focus on SMRs will divert time
and resources away from energy efficiency and renewables which he believes
are the “answers” to net zero electricity generation.

Professor Thomas’s position is in line with that of the Green Party, the Liberal
Democrats, and the Scottish National Party. The co-leader of the Green
Party Adrian Ramsey has described nuclear as an “expensive
distraction”, arguing that renewable energy technologies and energy
efficiency are “cleaner and cheaper solutions that can be delivered far
quicker than nuclear ever can”.

Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat
energy and climate change spokesperson, has also criticised the expense of
nuclear power relative to renewables. Referring to the Nuclear Energy
(Financing) Act 2022, she argued it was “madness” that the government
had “recently passed a new law that will allow them to add levies to
energy bills to fund new nuclear plants”.

Scotland’s last remaining
nuclear power plant in Torness is due to close in 2028 and SNP energy
spokesperson Alan Brown has said that the UK government should be focussing
its efforts on Scotland’s “renewable energy potential” rather than
attempting to build more nuclear power stations.

 House of Lords Library 23rd Aug 2023

The role of nuclear in the UK’s energy supply

August 24, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, UK