Recent shutdowns at nuclear power plants have added to concerns caused by Russia’s decision to halt gas supplies to Ukraine, the main route for Russian gas to Europe.
The sudden and unexpected shutdown of some nuclear power-plants has increased the threat of disruption to energy supplies in the European Union, which are already in doubt because of tensions with Russia. Both Belgium and the United Kingdom say that additional measures are needed to secure their supplies over the coming winter. Shortfalls may mean extending the life of traditional, more polluting, energy sources and slow down the policy-driven switch to renewable energy.
In Britain, new cracks were found in the Hunterston-B nuclear reactor in western Scotland this month during planned maintenance. Operator EDF Energy said that, although these fractures are more serious than the ones found in 2011, there is no immediate safety risk and there are no current plans to close down the plant. The reactor has been online since 1976 and is scheduled for closure in 2016, though EDF wants to keep it operational until at least 2023, until the planned Hinkley C reactor in south-west England is completed.
Last week (8 October) the European Commission cleared the way for construction of the reactor, announcing that British plans to subsidise the construction of the new Hinkley plant do not break EU state-aid rules, in defiance of protests that approval would run counter to the EU’s objective of achieving 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Precautionary checks did lead to the temporary closure of two of the UK’s eight nuclear power stations at the beginning of September, at Heysham and Hartlepool, both run by EDF. Fires in two coal-fired power plants – Ironbridge and Ferrybridge – also led to a reduction in capacity, which made the outlook for this winter “uncertain”, according to National Grid (NG), the UK electricity and gas distributor. EDF announced on Tuesday (14 October) that all four should be back in operation by the end of the year.
NG, however, has opened a tender for companies to provide additional reserves for the next few winters. Cordi O’Hara, director of UK market operation at NG, said these were only “precautionary measures”. She added: “At this stage we don’t know if these reserve services will be needed, but they could provide an additional safeguard.” One short-term measure is an offer to pay large companies compensation for reducing their energy usage at peak hours.
The UK is dealing with a reduction of total energy capacity and says new electricity capacity is needed to replace its ageing traditional power-plants.
Johan Albrecht, a professor in environmental economics at Ghent University, said that renewables continue to be important, but “the fundamental issue is that they too need be able to meet the demand”, which they currently cannot. Some renewable sources – for example, wind and solar energy – “depend on the weather conditions, not on the demand from the market”, he added. Other types of green energy, such as biomass and water power, are more likely to be useful in absorbing some of the capacity. As nuclear and electric power plants disappear, controllable alternatives would need to be in place to produce the same amount of energy, he said.
Belgium also fears a shortage of energy this winter because of problems in three of its seven nuclear power plants. Doel 4 closed down unexpectedly on 5 August and will not be back online again until the end of the year, and, two others – Doel 3 and Tihange 2 – were already closed for investigation of security issues. On top of that Doel 1 and Doel 2, the country’s oldest plants opened in 1975, are scheduled to be shut down in February and December 2015.
A working group of government and energy-sector representatives is examining an emergency plan to guarantee electricity supply this winter after it was revealed that there are insufficient reserves to cope with peak-time demand. Measures under review include turning down lights on motorways, turning off lights on public transport and reducing the electricity usage at government institutions. These measures would be enforced only in case of emergency – for example, if extreme weather prevents the import of electricity from France and the Netherlands.
Dependence on nuclear energy has also been prominent in recent political debate in Finland, where the Green League party left the five-party coalition government in September in protest against a decision to build a nuclear power plant.
Operator Fennovoima was given the go-ahead to start building the country’s fifth nuclear power plant in 2010, but a change to the plans meant it had to be approved again by parliamentary vote. The Green party fears that Finland’s dependence on Russia will increase, as a third of the shares in the project are owned by Rosatom, a Russian firm.
The EU currently imports 53% of the energy it consumes and the European Commission believes urgent action is needed to strengthen energy security following disruptions in the winters of 2006 and 2009.
It has set out key priorities for the coming months. Short-term measures should, according to the Commission, focus in particular on countries that are dependent on a single gas supplier and on vulnerable regions such as the Baltic and Eastern Europe.