UK Needs To Build Two New Nuclear Power Stations Every Year… Forever!

Posted on 19. Mar, 2010 by Ross in Energy Shortages, Government Policy, United Kingdom

In order to meet its carbon reduction targets, the UK must build two new nuclear or CCS-equipped coal power stations every year, starting right now and continuing indefinitely - and do a whole lot more besides.

UK energy policy is failing by not facing up to the realities that its aim of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 entails, warns a Royal Academy of Engineering report (PDF). It states that the current market-led approach, coupled with a general lack of political willpower, cannot deliver the necessary fundamental restructuring. It also lays out the necessary number of power stations required to be built to maintain energy production levels:

20,000 wind turbines: half of which onshore, with the offshore component equating to 38 times the size of the London Array, and…
The equivalent of 36m² of solar panels on every household rooftop, and…
The equivalent of 1,000 miles of Pelamis wave power machines, and…
The Severn tidal barrier, plus another 2,300 other tidal turbines, and…
Waste biomass power generation and transport biofuels equivalent to 26 coal power stations, and…
Domestic efficiency increases of 20% for electrical goods and 40% for heating, and…
80 new nuclear and CCS-equipped coal power stations.

Of course, with the lifespan of a nuclear or coal power station in the region of 40 years, that means as the work finishes in building the last ones then the first ones will need replacing. The hope is that nuclear fusion reactors will have become commercially viable by that time, alleviating the need to build more nuclear and coal power stations, but if advances in such technology is delayed (and there is certainly more hope than certainty surrounding those projections) then the UK will have to keep on building multiple power stations every year just to meet current demand levels. If efforts to reduce demand through legislation such as the CRC Efficiency Scheme fail to materialise the expected results, then energy demand will continue to rise, requiring even greater levels of power station construction.

Aside from the question marks over where to store all that nuclear waste, and whether CCS schemes will even work, the report raises big question marks over the ability of the UK government to deliver such massive undertakings in order to meet targets. Can the UK overcome these engineering challenges, find the necessary investment and thwart nimbyism in order to meet its world-leading commitments? Or is the UK destined to suffer massive energy shortages and environmental failure? You can have your say in the comments below.

Image of a nuclear power station by tonythemisfit @ Flickr