In the U.K., Energy Systems Catapult just issued a report titled “Nuclear for Net Zero” that said that the U.K. should commit to another ten gigawatts of new nuclear capacity beyond the EDF Energy/CGN Hinkley Point C project. They said that it was a “low-regrets option,” but that the costs of construction needed to be significantly reduced if nuclear power was going to fulfil its long-term potential. The U.K. Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) and project developer Horizon Nuclear Power are enthusiastic about the ESC technical and economic assessment that delivering a clean energy system should include a major proportion of new nuclear capacity.
Energy System Catapult is based in Birmingham, England. It is an independent, not-for-profit organization for industry, government, academia, and research. ESC also says that small modular light water reactors (SMR) that would be able to deliver cogeneration of heat and electricity are “worthy of particular attention”.
The NSC report describes how nuclear power could play a significant role in driving the growth of a hydrogen fuel economy and provide district heating. This would place the U.K. nuclear industry at the heart of the push for deep carbonization across the U.K. Transportation, building construction and operation, and industrial processes have to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuel, mainly natural gas.
Tom Greatrex is the CEO of the NIA. He said, “Reaching net zero by 2050 is a massive national endeavor - and this detailed, expert report demonstrates that all but removing polluting gas will need low-carbon sources of power to massively expand. Nuclear is a significant and integral part of that mix for the future. Costs can be reduced through repeat build and new construction techniques - but also, and most significantly, with a different approach to financing. It is imperative the government get on and conclude their review of this, so the 'no regrets' option highlighted by the Energy Systems Catapult can make progress. With thousands of jobs in construction, operation and the supply chain, getting the new fleet of nuclear power stations this report shows are needed underway can also boost the economy at a critical time, while also helping get closer to the net-zero ambition. There is no time to lose.”
Horizon affirmed that is was confident it could supply the U.K. requirements for new nuclear power. Horizon is the U.K. subsidiary of Hitachi in Japan. Early last year, Horizon suspended its new-build projects in the U.K. even though progress had been made with its plans to construct at least five thousand and four hundred megawatts of new nuclear capacity in two sites which are Wylfa Newydd in north Wales and Oldbury-on-Severn in southwest England. The new construction would be Hitachi-GE U.K. advanced boiler reactors. Duncan Hawthorne is the CEO of Horizon. He said that the report from ESC showed once again how nuclear alongside other clear technologies can and must be a part of the U.K.’s low-carbon future.
Hawthorne said, “It also goes to the heart of why we are determined to try and ensure that our development at Wylfa Newydd is restarted. An operational Wylfa Newydd will provide enough clean electricity to meet all of Wales’ power demand, domestic and industrial. This would, effectively, make Wales’ electricity supply Net Zero by the early 2030s, delivering on the UK government’s pledge decades early, and also helping to answer the Welsh government's declaration of a Climate Change Emergency.”
The report employed the Energy System Modelling Environment (ESME). The ESME has been utilized by the Committee on Climate Change, industry, academia and the UK government. The ESC says that ESME is independent of nuclear sector interests and it identifies cost-optimized decarbonization pathways across the whole economy.