The UK urgently needs a plan for nuclear energy

The government is sleeping on the potential for nuclear energy, which could have a hugely important role to play in the UK meeting its clean power goals after 2030, writes Elinor Bale from the Conservative Environment Network (CEN)

Elinor Bale | Climate Programme Manager

Although the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has previously recommended the UK set a target for clean power by 2035, the government has decided the country can achieve this by 2030.

Their ambition in tackling climate change so quickly is admirable, but the government's approach risks setting itself up for failure. It also risks several unforeseen consequences, such as undermining Labour's long-term credibility on climate change, making electricity more expensive which could slow the uptake of cleaner technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps, and damaging the public consensus on the need for climate action.

But perhaps the most damaging consequence of the too-hard, too-fast approach is that the government only focuses on the 2030 target and ignores all the other critical infrastructure we need to decarbonise. One area where this is particularly true is nuclear.

Nuclear energy has a long, proud tradition in the UK. Harnessing our nation's history for scientific innovation, we pioneered an industry that has driven economic growth across Britain, supporting 60,000 jobs, many of which are in Britain's most deprived areas. In fact, 40 per cent of those directly employed in the civil nuclear industry are in the 25 per cent most deprived local authorities in England.

Furthermore, it is a critical source of firm power, which has kept the UK on the move for decades and which can now power our nation into the future. Not to mention that our North Sea oil and gas reserves are running out and we can't afford to replace this firm power source with imported fossil gas from Russia.

It also serves a vital security purpose, providing Britain with domestically-produced energy. Additionally, uranium deposits and their supply chains are far more secure, with the UK able to import them from Australia, Canada, the US, and South Africa rather than relying on hostile states.

If you care about economic growth, energy security, or decarbonisation, nuclear must be a key ingredient in your electricity grid.

Unfortunately, this government doesn't seem to have realised the long-term importance of nuclear. Nor has it recognised the urgency of driving forward new nuclear projects.

As they have set themselves such a tight deadline with the 2030 clean power target, they need projects that can be built within the next five years. That means the government is putting all their chips on solar and wind and slow-pedalling everything else.

Decisions on new energy projects that might not be ready until the next decade, such as nuclear, are being sent to the back of the queue despite their importance to decarbonising without increasing energy bills.

One such decision is the small modular reactor competition that is currently underway. The announcement of the winning reactor designs is already significantly delayed.

Furthermore, the government risks undermine the programme again by - as some media reports suggest - only approving one design. Considering the competition was set up to find at least two approved designs, Ministers would be guilty of a significant waste of time and resources if such reports are correct. Rolls-Royce was ready to build its reactor before the competition even started - if the government goes ahead with just that design, it has simply added an unnecessary delay to rolling out Rolls-Royce's technology. We would also lose out on the benefits of having a broad number of market players and greater resilience in the SMR programme.

The current Labour government is not the only one to blame for turning a blind eye to nuclear. This has been one of many endless delays on crucial nuclear decisions, which have led to the industry's slow decline, with nuclear providing 13GW of power to our grid in the 1990s to only 6GW today.

We need nuclear, and fast. Otherwise, we are simply letting a critical part of the energy mix disappear at a time when we need it most.

And there is a lot we can do to help our nuclear industry thrive, namely streamlining red tape. It is currently far too expensive and time-consuming to get new nuclear reactors up and running. It means investors are nervous to put in capital, especially with an indecisive government, which leads to the Treasury having to spend billions of pounds on subsidies to keep the project afloat.

Firstly, the government should accept reactor designs from other trusted regulators, such as world-leading nuclear nations like South Korea and France. As called for by the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), Britain Remade, the Centre for British Progress, and others, it could significantly cut approval time for new nuclear projects, reduce the need for costly tweaks to reactor designs, and make it more financially attractive for overseas developers to build new nuclear reactors here in the UK.

Secondly, all new modern nuclear power stations should be granted regulatory justification. Rather than forcing all new projects to submit individual applications, this would ensure similar reactor designs swiftly move through the regulatory justification process and help get Britain building new nuclear faster.

Finally, the Scottish Government's ideological ban on new nuclear must be lifted. Scotland is home to much of the domestic nuclear supply chain, and supporting more domestic nuclear would provide a significant, long-term boost to these businesses. It would also provide long-term jobs and investment across the country.

Nuclear continues to be a controversial topic for many, but it shouldn't be. Britain has a proud history when it comes to nuclear. We are in desperate need of consistent, green energy that provides our nation with security and economic growth. Nuclear ticks all these boxes.

Let's get out of nuclear's way, streamline red tape, and unleash the nuclear industry once again.

First published by BusinessGreen. Elinor Bale is Climate Programme Manager at CEN.