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The United Kingdom government said it is considering a third new-generation nuclear plant with the same power capacity as the under-construction Hinkley C and the approved Sizewell C.
The third plant is part of the Civil Nuclear Roadmap announced by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Thursday, which the agency said envisions “the biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years”.
Hinkley C in the county of Somerset and Sizewell C in the country of Suffolk have a planned capacity of 3.2 gigawatts each, enough to power a combined 12 million homes according to the DESNZ. Both are being developed by France’s state-owned EDF Energy Ltd.
“The Civil Nuclear Roadmap will give industry certainty of the future direction of the UK’s ambitious nuclear program, on top of the government’s historic commitment to Sizewell C and world-leading competition to develop small modular reactor (SMR) technology”, the DESNZ said in a press release.
The government has so far invested GBP 700 million ($893.1 million) into Sizewell, with a further GBP 511 million ($651.96 million) committed, according to an official statement September 18.
“The roadmap sets out how the UK will increase generation of this homegrown supply of clean, reliable, and abundant energy by up to 4 times to 24 gigawatts (GW) by 2050 – enough to provide a quarter of the UK’s electricity needs”, Thursday’s news release added.
“The plans include next steps for exploring a GW-scale power plant as big as Sizewell in Suffolk or Hinkley in Somerset, which are capable of powering 6 million homes each”.
The roadmap has set a goal of three GW to seven GW of approved nuclear generation capacity every five years from 2030 to 2044.
The DESNZ earlier announced a component of the roadmap that has an investment of GBP 300 million ($383.22 million) meant to enable the UK to produce so-called high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), in a move challenging Russia’s status as the only commercial manufacturer of the fuel for SMRs.
“As the first country in Europe to launch a HALEU program, the UK will lead the way from its North West production hub to provide the world with this form of uranium fuel, with the first plant aiming to be operational early in the next decade”, the department said in the announcement of the roadmap.
“This builds on the ambition to return uranium conversion to the Springfields nuclear fuel site, both of which are critical to pushing Putin out of the global market”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency says HALEU is only produced in the United States and Russia but only Russia has a commercial-scale production.
SMRs need HALEU, which contains five to 20 percent of uranium-235, beyond the five percent level that powers most of today’s nuclear power plants, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
“HALEU fuel will enable smaller designs, longer operating cycles and increased efficiencies,” said Olena Mykolaichuk, director of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology at the IAEA in an IAEA bulletin report September 2023.
The DESNZ explained in a statement Sunday announcing the HALEU investment, “Advanced modular reactors will play an important role in the UK’s nuclear revival as, like small modular reactors, they are smaller, can be made in factories, and could transform how power stations are built by making construction faster and less expensive”.
“Many designs have the potential for a range of applications beyond low-carbon electricity generation, including production of hydrogen or industrial heat”, it added.
The DESNZ said GBP 10 million ($12.77 million) has also been allotted to develop sites and promote skills development for the production of other advanced nuclear fuels.
“Nuclear is the perfect antidote to the energy challenges facing Britain – it’s green, cheaper in the long term and will ensure the UK’s energy security for the long-term”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in Thursday’s announcement.
“This is the right long-term decision and is the next step in our commitment to nuclear power, which puts us on course to achieve net zero by 2050 in a measured and sustainable way”.
On the regulatory side, the roadmap will allow authorities to “assess projects while designs are finalized, and better join-up with overseas regulators assessing the same technology”, the DESNZ said in Thursday’s announcement.
“Ministers will bring together the brightest and best from the nuclear industry and beyond as part of a ‘hackathon’ event to come up with ideas on how government and industry can accelerate new nuclear projects, while maintaining the highest levels of safety and security”, it added.
“These plans will help build new supplies of affordable and clean domestic power so the transition to net zero doesn’t mean higher prices, protecting households from global instability”.
The chief executive of the country’s Nuclear Industry Association, Tom Greatrex, welcomed the roadmap. “We will need both large and small nuclear at scale and at pace for our energy security and net zero future”, Greatrex said in a statement.
“Decisions on 3-7GW in each 5 year period provide the greater clarity and predictability, which in turn enables supply chain investment and more UK content in the future fleet”, Greatrex added.
However, opponents have raised concerns about the costs of nuclear energy and the potential danger posed.
“The UK’s new Hinkley Point C reactor could cost over GBP 25 billion [$31.93 billion] by the time it’s finished”, Greenpeace UK says in a statement on its website.
“Such huge sums of money would be better invested in truly clean energy, such as wind power which produces energy more cheaply”, the statement adds.
It also warns, “We’re still living with the legacy of accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima which released huge amounts of radioactive material”.
“Even without such accidents, nuclear power creates radioactive waste at every stage of production, including uranium mining and reprocessing of spent reactor fuel”, Greenpeace UK says. “Some of this waste will remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, yet nobody knows of a way to safely store it so problems aren’t created for future generations”.
A campaign group has also been formed against Sizewell C. Together Against Sizewell C alleges various risks including damage to the environment, job displacement in the long term and an increase in energy prices.
