EdF’s plans to build four new nuclear reactors in the UK came a step closer earlier this year with the completion of the £12.5bn sale of British Energy Group to the French energy giant. The company has firm plans to build these new reactors on British Energy land, while other companies have started to form joint ventures, including the recently formed 50:50 partnership between RWE npower and E.ON UK, which hopes to secure sites from the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency.
E.ON UK chief executive, Paul Golby reminds us that the UK has to replace a third of its generating capacity in the next 15 years – but in a way that ensures security of supply, along with the necessary carbon emissions reductions, while keeping energy as affordable as possible. He, among many others, believes that the only way we can achieve this is to have a diverse energy mix, combining new nuclear power, cleaner fossil fuel burning plant, renewable energy sources and more efficient use of the energy generated by them.
Energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband has given the nuclear industry until the end of March to come up with a list of sites for the first wave of proposed new constructions. The list will be made available for an initial month-long public consultation, after which follows the long process of local government and parliamentary debate that will probably take us well into 2010. Only then will suitable sites be presented to the relevant planning authorities.
Given the years of neglect that this strategically important, yet environmentally sensitive energy sector has endured, the timetable might justly be described as ‘fast track’. But it is not just the siting of these plants that is at issue – we also need the skills to decommission the old stations and design, build and run the new. The qualities of those charged with such responsibilities will be crucial to the safety of a nuclear power generation infrastructure. A number of training initiatives are in the pipeline, but there is an inevitable lag in the supply of qualified individuals as newly enrolled students embark on their necessarily long courses.
Compared with the speed of development of our offshore wind farm infrastructure, that other offshore source of renewable energy – the tidal barrage – has been many years in the planning. But the urgency of climate change has put the proverbial squib in place and the government is looking fondly once more on this huge natural source of low-carbon energy. Indeed, a proposed shortlist of five schemes to generate electricity from tidal flows in the Severn estuary has now been published and while the concept may not exactly be new, the renewed impetus is certainly encouraging.
The most ambitious proposal – the Cardiff Weston Barrage, which will span the estuary - has the potential to generate 8.6GW, twice that of the UK’s largest fossil fuel fired power station. Recent thinking, however, has tended to favour tidal lagoons, a novel concept involving the construction of an offshore impoundment structure that looks rather like a rocky island. The impoundment is fitted with conventional low-head hydroelectric generating equipment and produces predictable power.
According to Friends of the Earth, there are many potential environmental and economic benefits and disadvantages associated with the siting of lagoons or the construction of a barrage across the estuary. FoE believes that lagoons could be significantly less extensive, less environmentally damaging, more cost effective and more powerful (given that several might be constructed) than the barrage itself. Lagoons would not directly impound the ecologically valuable inter-tidal areas of the estuary and may even offer potentially significant wildlife habitats.
The Severn estuary tides are the second highest in the world. Indeed, the largest of the tidal energy proposals could satisfy nearly 5% of the UK’s electricity demand. But quite apart from the enormous investment required, there are likely to be strong environmental objections and consequent delays. As ever, there will be a balance to strike between challenging the established eco-system of the Severn estuary and exploiting a force of nature that could contribute substantially towards our national carbon dioxide emission reduction targets. The case for nuclear, on the other hand, will be less of a balancing trick and more a leap of faith.
Les Hunt
Editor