Failures in the Government’s nuclear power strategy have left taxpayers facing a “disproportionate risk” of paying to make ageing reactors safe and has left the UK vulnerable to the perils of having to import power from abroad, MPs have warned. The closure of seven nuclear power stations by 2028 will “significantly reduce” UK energy generation with no immediate replacement except imports, the influential Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said. MPs warn that the terms of the 2009 sale of seven nuclear power stations to French energy giant EDF “placed a disproportionate amount of risk for meeting future decommissioning costs on the taxpayer”.
iNews 20th May 2022 read more »
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBEIS) and EDF must together “double-check whether it would be technically feasible, safe and cost-effective to extend the lives of any of the remaining operating [nuclear] stations” to ensure energy security and ease energy price rises, according to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. The group of cross-party MPs has released its new report, The future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors, in which it has given feedback on how the changing energy landscape will effect the need for nuclear power and in turn what cost it will bring to the taxpayer. It has highlighted that there are planned closures of seven UK Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) nuclear power stations by 2028, with two having already gone offline in the last year. Despite their decommissioning dates having been known for decades, it will “significantly reduce” the country’s energy generation with no immediate replacement except imports.
New Civil Engineer 20th May 2022 read more »
The cost of decommissioning seven ageing nuclear power stations has almost doubled to £23.5 billion since March 2004. That’s one of the findings of a new report by the Public Accounts Committee which suggests the terms of the 2009 sale of seven nuclear power stations to EDF Energy “placed a disproportionate amount of risk for meeting future decommissioning costs on the taxpayer”. It notes failures in the government’s investment strategy for the Nuclear Liabilities Fund have already seen the taxpayer having to top it up by an additional £10.7 billion in just two years. The committee also said the closure of seven nuclear power stations by 2028 will “significantly reduce” UK power generation with no immediate replacement except imports.
Energy Live News 20th May 2022 read more »