Britain's Love Affair with Nuclear

The future energy mix of this country is currently up for debate; whether we as a country should invest money in developing renewables or commit future generations to a legacy of nuclear waste? With strict EU laws governing the country’s carbon dioxide output between now and 2020, at a reduction of 20% on 1990 levels, a viable solution must be found in order to keep the lights on in British homes.

Can we keep the lights on?
Image @ Bes Z via Creative Commons

In a white paper published in January 2008, Gordon Brown, then the UK Prime Minister, stated “nuclear power is a tried and tested technology. It has provided the UK with secure supplies of safe, low-carbon electricity for half a century” an opinion reiterated by the Tory Liberal coalition government in their go ahead for nuclear regeneration in the UK and approval for ten new reactors to be built at sites around the country, with a generating capacity of 16 gigawatts electric.

Henri Becquerel (1903)
By Nobel foundation [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Nuclear power is a controversial method of power generation. Radiation and radioactivity have fascinated people since its discovery by Becquerel in 1896. But it wasn’t until 1939, during the Second World War, that the potential for a self-propagating fission reaction was realised.

It took American scientists six years to develop and assemble enough fissile material to create a weapon. So confident in their creation, there was no weapons test before the bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on the 6^th August 1945. It took almost another ten years for the first nuclear power plant to come to fruition, realised by the Soviet Union in June 1954, their plant generated five megawatts electric.

Civil nuclear power was pioneered in Britain at the Windscale site situated in Cumbria, the county now home to the UK’s energy coast. The site has had a long and varied history, starting life as a munitions factory during WWII before being adapted in 1947 for the production of plutonium for the British nuclear weapons programme. The first of the two Windscale Pile reactors became operational in 1950, only three years after construction began. 

Calder Hall 1
 Image copyright (C) The British Nuclear Group Ltd.

On the 17^th October 1956, Queen Elizabeth II opened the country’s first civil nuclear power station, Calder Hall. The four Calder Hall reactors supplied the UK grid with electricity until 2003.

Since the 1950’s the nuclear industry has grown within the UK. The country now boasts full fuel cycle capabilities. With the ability to convert the mined uranium ore, enrich it and fabricate fuel all before any electricity is generated. Following burn up in a reactor most fuel is currently reprocessed, which allows for the reuse of fuel and better disposal of waste.

Reprocessing is an important part of the fuel cycle and the UK boasts two reprocessing plants: the Magnox reprocessing facility and the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP). The bulk of activities on the Sellafield and Windscale site today are reprocessing and decommissioning of these old reactors.Throughout its sixty year history, the Sellafield site has been one of continuous building and now it is about to go into large scale decommissioning and redediation, it is set to become the largest construction site in Europe. 

As nuclear technology spread to countries around the world, so did the need for regulation and agreements between nations. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was established in 1949, in response to the threat that the Soviet Union and their nuclear programme and weapons posed at the time.

Nuclear weapon test, Nervada 1957.
Credit: US Government via Creative Commons

As the decades progressed many treaties were signed creating nuclear weapon free zones around the world and the peaceful working together of nations for the development of nuclear technology as a means of energy in those non-nuclear countries. The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) was established in 1989 as a result of the Chernobyl accident. WANO is a collaborative organisation of nuclear operators around the world striving for safety and reliability in nuclear power by sharing information and methods of best practise, hoping to prevent another event like Chernobyl. It wasn’t until 1996 though, that nuclear weapons testing of any sort; surface tests, underwater tests or tests in outer space were banned.

The UK nuclear industry has not been without its share of accidents and bad press.  The seventy year history of this country’s involvement with nuclear power has been a learning curve for the scientists working alongside the reactors and the succession of governments footing the bill. What started as a centrally owned branch of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has grown into a multi-billion pound legacy. 

With recent changes in legislation, and the privatisation of the industry, this cheque no longer rests on the shoulders of the UK tax payer, but with the energy companies who will oversee the commissioning as well as decommissioning of their proposed reactors and the sites they occupy.

The future of the UK and global nuclear industry is something that relies very heavily on public opinion; governments will not support a programme that is not favoured by the people that put them in office. This is something that becomes very apparent after nuclear disasters like those that occurred at Chernobyl in the Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan.

Fukushima anti-nuclear protest, Tokyo
Image by Courtney Stiehl via Flickr

After the Fukushima event in March 2011, the media fallout and anti-nuclear demonstrations caused many nations to reconsider their stance on nuclear energy programmes. Germany shut down eight of its oldest nuclear power plants and has plans to phase out the remaining nine by 2022.

 A similar situation arose in France, a very pro-nuclear country prior to the incident, with over 75% of the country’s energy generated by nuclear means, now this is set to reduce to 50% by 2025.

This said, the UK opinion of nuclear as a source of power “remained remarkably stable in the wake of Fukushima,” with Britons valuing energy security and the need to reduce our reliance on oil and gas as energy sources.

Sellafield Site, Cumbria
Image: T. Macalister, Gaurdian, 15/02/2009.

If you would like to find out more about the Sellafield site or get a look inside the heart of the British nuclear industry, the BBC documentary “Britain’sNuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield” is worth a watch.