An Overview of the Nuclear Industry in UK

An Overview of the Nuclear Industry in UK

Going by the currents statistics, the United Kingdom boasts of 19 reactors that generate as much as 18% of the electricity in the country. All of these except for one would be decommissioned in 2023. UK also has some of the leading reprocessing plants and complete fuel cycle units. It is estimated that 19 GWe new age plants would be up and functional by 2018. During the later half of the 1990s, nuclear power units were responsible for contributing as much as 25% of the annual electricity generation. However, the output has gone down considerably considering the fact that a number of the old plants are no longer in operation. The life of a nuclear plant and the problems associated with it certainly affect the availability of a plant for power generation. This has an obvious effect on the availability of jobs in nuclear industry.

Numerous policies have been adopted in this direction, in Wales and England, in order to build the necessary support for the development and maintenance of nuclear plants. Some of these state that the financial resources for the development should be sourced from the private sector. It is also necessary to take into account the decommissioning costs. The internalised waste disposal facilities should be at par with the standards that are prevalent worldwide. In order to help in the development of new nuclear plants, several measures have been undertaken by the government:

It is necessary to ensure that the regulators bear the pre-license designs for the new development proposals

Ensuring that the process is streamlined

Increase investor confidence by developing the EU Emissions Trading Scheme for the sake of long-term carbon pricing

Implement strategic environmental assessment programs and strategic site assessment to determine and evaluate sites for developing nuclear plants.

Introduce legislation to make sure that the waste management liabilities and decommissioning are carried out from the funds raised from operational revenue.

One of the challenges faced by the industry is that of cleaning up of the industry's old power stations and their decommissioning. A large number of these were constructed in the couple of decades from 1940-1960. The NDA or the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is responsible for the management and the decommissioning of as many as 20 nuclear sites in a secure, safe and cost effective manner. It is also necessary to look after the fact that the surrounding environment is not affected in any way.

It is obvious that the decommissioning of older sites and the creation of new ones would obviously lead to the demand for a workforce. People are also required to carry on with the operations, especially for carrying out the nuclear fuel cycle. It is the process by which uranium is transformed into fuel that is subsequently used up in power stations to generate electricity. The sector also provides the necessary assistance to the defence industry and this includes supplying fuel to nuclear submarines.

A new plan has been proposed to assist the installation of the nuclear reactors and to create the necessary infrastructure required for the project. This has created numerous offshore job vacancies.

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