Engineering news
UK nuclear expertise is under threat as new plant projects go to foreign companies, a paper published by the cross-party think thank Civitas says.
The report warns Britain is at risk of losing its £4 billion-a-year nuclear industry unless the government does more to ensure domestic firms will benefit from projects to rebuild the UK's generating capacity over the coming years. This follows news that three foreign companies are set to build new nuclear power stations in the UK – French state-owned EDF, plus Japan's Toshiba and Hitachi.
In the Civitas report Candida Whitmill, managing director of Penultimate Power UK, a UK-led consortium to build Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Britain, calls for a programme of government support for a new line of smaller reactors that are quicker and cheaper to build and could be manufactured largely in the UK.
In the report 'Use It or Lose It: A business case for an alternative way to rejuvenate the UK nuclear industry' Whitmill argues that SMRs - defined as reactors of less than 300MW - could provide an attractive alternative to the high-risk and expensive projects currently planned.
Such a plan, she says, would help safeguard UK nuclear expertise built up over 60 years and which has an estimated annual turnover of £4 billion.
Whitmill says: "Outsourcing nuclear power projects that the UK will be committed to for the next 60 years must be handled carefully if our indigenous industry is not to be diminished.
"International investment is welcome, if in collaboration with UK businesses. The government has two options; let the UK become merely a host nation whence other nations can springboard their global nuclear ambitions and lose our own nuclear capability; or choose to let the start of a new-build programme of nuclear power reignite the UK's nuclear supply chain, expand our fuel cycle facilities and showcase our world-class research and development capability.
"Supporting a programme to bring smaller, affordable, secure, small modular reactors to UK-based commercialisation could do just that."
The UK could supply the necessary forgings for SMRs and already has the capacity to supply more than 70% of other nuclear components, she adds, presenting an opportunity to secure demand for Britain's advanced manufacturing skills.
Whitmill stresses that more must be done by the government to ensure the UK nuclear industry is safeguarded: "The UK nuclear industry is now entirely vulnerable to the political agendas of other countries.
"Without an additional, more accessible market, the UK's supply chain may not be able to participate fully in the nuclear renaissance and risks being left behind; a scenario that the government, which has woken up to the value of an advanced manufacturing sector, is surely keen to avoid,” she adds.