In its efforts to reduce dependence on oil and natural gas from Russia and other foreign suppliers following the invasion of Ukraine, Britain plans to build eight new nuclear reactors and expand the production of wind energy.
The new reactor will be built on existing sites – including two at Sizewell in Suffolk – and the delivery of the new plants will be overseen by a new body called Great British Nuclear.
The hopes are that a new reactor would be approved each year until 2030 with the aim to have them up and running by 2050. By bolstering the UK’s nuclear capacity, London wants to almost triple its nuclear power generation capacity to 24 gigawatts by 2050 – 25% of the projected electricity demand.
The decision has drawn a mixed reaction among environmentalists, some of which say it’s too dear and too dangerous or ridicule the idea saying that every city could have its own mini reactor. Other climate campaigners, however, argue that nuclear must be part of the energy mix.
As Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Thursday, this is part of the UK’s new energy security strategy that will also see accelerated development of solar power and hydrogen projects.
Johnson announced bold plans in the decade ahead to scale up and accelerate affordable, clean, and secure energy made in Britain, for Britain – from new nuclear to offshore wind – to reduce UK’s dependence on power sources exposed to volatile international prices they cannot control.
By 2030, as the UK’s government’s new plans envisage, up to 95% of the UK’s electricity could come from low-carbon sources.
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (Beis), for example, hopes to produce up to 50 GW of energy through offshore wind farms, which would be more than enough to power every home in the UK.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed gas prices even higher, the household gas and electricity prices in Britain this month jumped 54%, fueling the cost-of-living crisis in the country.
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