UK to fast-track nuclear plants

PM seeks urgent expansion of sector with demand set to double by 2050

The United Kingdom is poised for a massive expansion of its nuclear power program, with one of the few impediments likely to be its rigorous approval process.

With London desperate to break the nation's strong reliance on Russian oil and gas, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he hopes to expand the nuclear program that currently comprises 11 power plants generating 16 percent of the country's power.

He met in private with industry leaders and potential investors on Monday, and a spokesman subsequently said: "They discussed the benefits of scaling up investment and removing barriers facing development, agreeing to work together to help projects become operational more quickly and cheaply."

London sees an end to dependence on Russian oil and gas as not only a way to enhance UK sovereignty but as a way to hit its target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions, and reducing reliance on finite fossil fuels.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK's business secretary, was at Monday's meeting and is understood to want to grow the nuclear sector quickly by mimicking the fast-tracked efficiency that ensured the UK developed and distributed a novel coronavirus vaccine in record time.

The Financial Times newspaper said sources close to government said Kwarteng is eager to end more than a decade of stalled attempts to build a fleet of nuclear power stations.

The Treasury has not yet publicly responded to the idea of expanding the nuclear power sector.

Johnson has, however, said he wants the UK's nuclear power sector to be supplying at least a quarter of the country's electricity by 2050. Because demand is set to double by 2050, his aspiration means nuclear output will need to treble to hit the 25 percent target, which equates to eight new nuclear power plants.

The Daily Mail newspaper said the UK's change in attitude toward nuclear power represents "a significant gear change".

Currently, only one nuclear plant is under construction, the 20-billion-pound ($26-billion) China-invested Hinkley Point C development in southern England. And the last nuclear plant built before the Hinkley project was Sizewell B, which began generating power in 1995.

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, told City AM: "It is clear that the pace of delivery must be more urgent-the sense of mission is critically important, both to investors and also the supply chain."

Johnson reportedly said at the meeting he has been "insanely frustrated" by the snail's pace of nuclear plant approval.

He is set to unveil his plans for an expansion of the nuclear sector in an updated energy security strategy that will be published next week. It could include the establishment of a state-owned nuclear power company that would oversee the construction of new plants.