The Economist - USA (2021-11-13)

TheEconomistNovember13th 2021 59

Britain

Nuclearpower

This time, it’s different

B

ritain iskeen  on  nuclear  power—in

theory, at least. In 2010 the government

gave  permission  for  eight  new  reactors  to

be built in England and Wales, as part of its

efforts  to  decarbonise  electricity  genera­

tion.  Things  have  proved  harder  in  prac­

tice.  A  decade  later  only  one—at  Hinkley

Point on the Somerset coast (pictured)—is

being built. It is late and over budget. Con­

struction only began at all because in 2013

ministers committed consumers to paying

edf, the French firm building the plant, a

fixed  price  far  above  the  going  rate  for  its

electricity for the first 35 years. 

Rolls­Royce,  a  big  engineering  firm,

thinks it can do better. On November 8th it

said it had raised £195m ($263m) from priv­

ate  investors  including  Exelon  Energy,  an

American  firm,  and  bnf Resources  uk,  a

company  backed  by  the  Perrodo  family,  a

French oil dynasty. The money will be used

to develop and design a new generation of

up to 16 smaller nuclear reactors that Rolls­

Royce says will be both cheaper and quick­

er to build than existing ones, and which it

hopes may evolve into a new business line.

That will be particularly welcome because

itsaerospacebusinesssufferedbadlydur­

ingthecovid­19pandemic,leadingit tocut

upto9,000jobs.

Theprivateinvestmentwasenoughto

persuadethegovernmenttochipinanoth­

er£210m.Ministershopethata newround

ofnuclearpowerplantswillhelpBritain

meetitscarbon­cuttinggoalsbyproviding

a steadysourceoflow­carbonpowertogo

withtheintermittentelectricitygenerated

by wind­farms and solar panels. Rolls­

Roycereckons thatthe first onescould

comeonlinebytheearly2030s.

Such“smallmodularreactors”(smrs)

arenota newidea.CountriesfromChina

andRussiatoAmerica,CanadaandFrance

arepursuingtheconcept.Asthenamesug­

gests,theyaredesignedtobesmallerthan

mostmodernnuclearstations.Thetwore­

actorsatHinkleyPointC,whentheyare

finished,willsupply3.2gigawatts(gw) of

electricity. In summer that would be

enoughtocoverarounda tenthofBritain’s

electricitydemand.Rolls­Royce’sreactors,

whicharelargebysmrstandards,willsup­

ply0.47gweach.

Smallermeanscheaper.Thelatestesti­

mateforHinkleyPointCis£23bn.Sucha

heftypricetagensuresthatonlythebig­

gest,best­capitalisedfirmscanbuildnuc­

learplants.Eventhengovernmentsmust

oftensweetenthedeal.In 2017 theNation­

alAuditOffice,a spendingwatchdog,said

that edf’s fixed­price contract might

amounttoa subsidyof£30bnoverthe 35

yearsofthe contract.Bycontrast Rolls­

Roycereckonsitsfirstfewsmrs mightcost

around £2.2bn apiece. That would put

themwithinreachofsmallerfirms.

The“modular”part,inturn,refersto

howthereactorsareconstructed.Rather

thanbuildingareactor on­site,saysAn­

drew Storer, who runs the Nuclear Ad­

vancedManufacturingResearchCentreat

theuniversitiesofSheffieldandManches­

ter,theideaistomakeasmuchofthereac­

Rolls-Royce and the government are bettingthatsmallreactorscanfix

nuclear power’s tricky economics

→Alsointhissection

60 Goinggreen,ata price

61 Bagehot:Brexiteers’paranoid

triumphalism

Small change

Britain, emissions from electricity generation

Gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per kWh

Source:MyGridGB *12monthsto November 1th

500

400

300

200

100

0

152012 21* 30

2030 target

— Read more at: Economist.com/Britain