Deep within the British government, officials are laying secret plans to push through a major programme of new nuclear power stations. According to internal policy briefings leaked to New Scientist, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) wants to speed up safety checks of new reactors and is discussing ways to soften up public opposition to nuclear power.
The plan is for Britain to follow the US lead and end the slump suffered by the West’s nuclear power industry since the accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine 16 years ago. In February, the US Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, announced plans to build a new nuclear power plant by 2010, aided by a “more efficient, effective and predictable” system of safety licensing.
The revelation that the DTI is preparing to do something similar comes just months after the British government’s Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) published a comprehensive review of energy policy. This recommended that nuclear power should be retained only if expanding renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency don’t work.
But it’s now clear from the leaked documents that the DTI has always been determined to pave the way for nuclear development. It is working hard behind the scenes to make sure that a White Paper on energy policy due out next year will reflect its ambitions.
Outside experts regard the DTI’s stance as predictable but flawed. Gordon MacKerron, a leading economist involved in preparing the PIU energy report, points out that in Britain a nuclear power station that could compete economically with other forms of energy has never been built. “Competitive nuclear power is still at best an untested proposition,” he says.
Nuclear power in Britain has lost its momentum. The last nuclear station to be built, at Sizewell in Suffolk, was completed in 1995 after 15 years of argument. None has been ordered since because gas-fired plants are cheaper, and because of public concern over reactor safety and radioactive waste.
The DTI has several plans to change that. The suggestion likely to provoke most alarm is for the regulations on reactor safety to be overhauled so that new designs can be licensed more quickly and cheaply. There are at least three types of reactor under consideration, in all of which the state-owned company British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has a stake.
Two – the AP1000 and its smaller cousin, the AP600 – are large advanced light water reactors being developed by Westinghouse, which is now owned by BNFL. Others include a much smaller high temperature reactor, known as the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor, which is under development in South Africa, and a Canadian heavy water reactor called Candu 6.
The energy policy briefing to British ministers argues that power companies will not invest in building any of these reactors if it takes years to win safety approval. “In a competitive electricity market this adds significantly to both capital risk and economic cost,” it says.
So the DTI is proposing to “speed approval for operation in the UK”. This will involve “simplifying licensing requirements” and collaborating with the US on “generic approvals”: in other words, fast-tracking designs that have already been given the go-ahead in the US.
The briefing urges the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, which regulates the nuclear industry, to learn from the US by changing its “style” and improving its “responsiveness and targeting” in order to meet the needs of power companies. Although the briefing is dated June 2001, insiders say it still represents the view of the DTI.
The DTI is also worried that international moves to tighten the limits on radioactive discharges into the sea could prevent new nuclear plants from being approved. “The limits – and pressure to further reduce them – will be carefully monitored to ensure that the future position is not unintentionally compromised,” it promises.
As well as fast-tracking safety regulation, the DTI is also proposing ways that nuclear plants could win planning permission more easily. “Simplification of the planning system could also be an issue, together with ways of compensating local communities for the perceived disbenefits of new nuclear build. Potential sensitivities could be eased to some extent by utilising space on existing nuclear sites.”
The leaked briefing lists eight such sites in England and Wales where new stations could be built.
On the question of the high cost of nuclear electricity, the briefing argues that companies that build new nuclear stations deserve tax breaks, on the grounds that they don’t emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. “There are prospects for new build to be economic,” it concludes. The clear implication of the DTI’s analysis is that, without the planning and regulatory reforms and the carbon tax breaks, nuclear power would flounder.
“No development,” says another internal document, “is likely in the UK without a signal from government that they would be willing to consider new nuclear power stations.”
The only remaining problem is public opinion. But the DTI believes it can win people round by stressing that without new nuclear stations there could be power blackouts like those in California two years ago. “Public acceptance may not be the intractable problem it is perceived as being, particularly if the alternatives are considered less palatable,” the briefing observes.
And when it comes to disposing of the radioactive waste that any new reactors will inevitably produce, people just need to realise that the amounts aren’t as big as they think, the leaked briefing explains. “The difficulty in advocating new build is one of perception,” not helped by “an increasingly vociferous and influential environmental lobby.”.
The DTI denies it has a hidden agenda on nuclear power. “We’ve got an open mind on this,” insists a spokesman. “We are working towards a diverse and sustainable energy mix.” But Stewart Boyle, a commentator for Platt’s Energy Newsletters, is convinced the department is hoping for a nuclear comeback. “The public won’t like it and it could prove to be a colossal political mistake,” he says.
The final decision, of course, rests with the Cabinet, in which ministers are split on nuclear power. But as one of the most influential departments in Whitehall, the DTI is quietly doing everything it can to make sure it gets its way.