New Nuclear - overview

The National Energy System Operator estimates that up to 4.1GW of nuclear

will be needed to deliver a clean power system in the UK by 2030, with
scope for further capacity to be delivered if new small modular reactor
(SMR) technology can be developed. Overall, the government’s aim seems to
be to ramp up nuclear capacity to 24GW by 2050 – though that is still to be
confirmed, with new ‘roadmap’ review underway. It certainly would be
hard. And expensive. But the money seems to be there for things like this.
For example, Rolls Royce’s Small Modular Reactor design has been backed by
up to £599m from the National Wealth Fund in a partnership deal with Great
British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N). This, it is said, will enable work to
begin on the delivery of the UK’s first SMR on Anglesey in North Wales,
with £2.5bn having been allocated to SMR development. And over £14bn has
been provided for the next large reactor at Sizewell. With, presumably,
more to come. It is undeniable that there are links between civil and
military nuclear. So, arguably it’s hard to back/or oppose one but not the
other, with, for example, some nuclear technologies being suited to dual
use. That can open up some big political issues, although some see it a bit
differently: ‘Civil & military nuclear can enmesh’ says Paul Dorfman, but
‘one must ask whether one inevitably leads to the other…It’s not that
nuclear military interests are the sole drivers of support for civil
nuclear power, but for some states dual-use technology may comprise a
significant complementary factor.’ In a powerful new book Linda Pentz
Gunter says that amongst its many problems, nuclear power is too slow, too
expensive, too dangerous and too integrally connected to the nuclear
weapons complex, to serve as a rational energy choice. And US energy guru
Amory Lovins agrees: ‘A kilowatt of nuclear power capacity produces
several times the annual output of a kilowatt of solar or wind capacity,
but at many times higher cost per kilowatt-hour. Capital markets therefore
shun nuclear investments but invest one or two orders of magnitude more in
solar & wind power. It is sometimes argued that nuclear is needed to
balance variable renewables, but large costly inflexible nuclear plants are
not able to vary their output quickly and safely to meet rapid supply and
demand variations. Some new SMR technology may make them more flexible. But
do you like the sound of molten-flouride salt heat reservoirs? Apart from
the risks, adding capacity like that is likely to make the system more
expensive and, since they would only need to work part time, overall less
economically efficient.

Renew Extra 23rd May 2026

https://renewextraweekly.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-troubled-nuclear-future.html