The UK’s nuclear power output has dropped to its lowest level since 1982 and Brits are paying the price for the bureaucratic red tape which slows down construction of new plants.
Closure of Hinkley Point B power station and prolonged outages at other sites saw nuclear power output fall to fall from 48 to 41 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2023, according to official figures from the Government and EDF.
It marks a 15 percent decline on a year ago and means nuclear supplied only 13 percent of the UK’s electricity last year. This compares with just under a third in the 1990s.
Matthew Lesh, Director of Public Policy and Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs thinktank, said the drop came as no surprise.
He said: “The last nuclear reactor to be completed in the United Kingdom was Sizewell B power station almost 30 years ago. It’s therefore no surprise nuclear electricity output has reached the lowest in many decades.”
Mr Lesh added there have been immense barriers to developing new nuclear capacity in the form of extreme red tape and a poorly designed electricity market.
He said: “The environmental assessment for Sizewell C was 44,260 pages, and the planning application was over 4,000 documents. We are paying for this red tape today in higher energy prices and greater dependence on imported dirty gas and coal.”
Sizewell C, which is currently being built, is expected to meet seven percent of Britain’s energy needs for at least 60 years and will produce enough low carbon electricity to power six million homes, according to EDF.
Mr Lesh said: “New projects, including Sizewell C and small modular nuclear reactors, are the great hope for nuclear power. However, this new capacity is not scheduled to come online until well into the next decade.
“The UK’s nuclear power capacity has declined since the turn of the century and it will keep declining for some time as the existing capacity is retired over the coming years.”
Besides news of the output fall, it emerged on Thursday (January 4) that at one point in the summer just one nuclear plant was in operation.
To make matters worse, EDF, the UK’s only nuclear operator, has warned two of its nine reactors are shut down with another operating at half of its capacity and further outages in the pipeline.
Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industries Association, told the Telegraph: “Nuclear output is the lowest since 1982 because we have fewer nuclear power stations.”
He said the UK is down to 5.9 GW of nuclear capacity, the least Britain has had since 1975, after Hunterston B and Hinkley Point B entered their long-planned retirement in 2022.
Mr Greatrex said successive governments have procrastinated for years in getting new nuclear power projects underway, hoping “something would turn up”.
He warned this is why Britain has to get on with a new programme of projects from Sizewell C and beyond, so the UK isn’t in the same position in the next decade and beyond.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “Our nuclear roadmap to be published shortly will set out our ambitions for the UK to benefit from up to 24GW of nuclear power by 2050, helping deliver cleaner, cheaper energy for businesses and families and meet our net zero target.”
He added that last year alone the Government provided industry with millions to develop new nuclear technologies and, with Great British Nuclear, advanced six companies through to the next round of its SMR competition, which the Department says is helping meet the ambition of delivering the fastest competition of its kind in the world.
DESNZ’s spokesman continued: “These steps, and our forthcoming roadmap, mean we do not envisage a period in which nuclear doesn’t form part of our energy mix, ensuring the UK continues to have one of the most diverse energy systems in the world.”
A spokesperson for EDF said: “We will seek to extend the life of Sizewell B by 20 years and we will run the AGRs for as long as it is safe and commercially viable but the AGRs will not be able to run forever.
“That is why we need a clear timetable for nuclear development in the UK beyond Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C.”
