SUMMARY
Introduction
The context of this inquiry is the Government's commitment
to delivering a mixture of energy sources that will provide a
secure, affordable, low-carbon supply of electricity for the future.
The Government have said that nuclear energy will play an important
role in achieving these goals. Nuclear energy currently supplies
16%[1] of the UK's electricity
(10-12 gigawatts (GW) of capacity[2]).
Scenarios for future electricity generation suggest that between
now and 2050 nuclear power could supply between 15% and 49% (12
and 38 GW[3]) of the total.
To meet the UK's legally binding target of reducing greenhouse
gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 it is likely that
between 20 and 38 GW of nuclear power will be needed.
Focus of our inquiry
The focus of our inquiry was not on the arguments
for or against nuclear energy; but on whether or not the Government
are doing enough to maintain and develop UK nuclear research and
development (R&D) capabilities, and the associated expertise
to ensure that nuclear energy is a viable option for the future.
We have concluded that they are not. The absence of leadership
and strategic thinking in Government in this area has resulted
in a lack of co-ordination of nuclear R&D activities and a
perception amongst international partners that the UK is no longer
a serious player in the field. There is also a failure to recognise
that although, at present, the UK has a number of strengths in
nuclear R&D and expertise, those strengths are built on past
investments and will soon be depleted as many experts near the
end of their careers.
The need for fundamental change
During our inquiry we were struck by the extraordinary
discrepancy between the view, on the one hand, of some senior
government officials and the Secretary of State, and on the other,
those of independent experts from academia, industry, nuclear
agencies, the regulator and the Government's own advisers. A fundamental
change in the Government's approach to nuclear R&D is needed
now to address the complacency which permeates their vision of
how the UK's energy needs will be met in the future. We make a
number of recommendations for the Government to take action to
ensure that this change takes place.
Policy development, an R&D roadmap and R&D
Board
Some of our recommendations are intended to bring
about high-level changes in the Government's approach to policy
development for nuclear. These include:
- the development of a long-term strategy for
nuclear energy;
- the development, as part of that strategy, of
a nuclear R&D roadmap;
- the establishment of an independent Nuclear
R&D Board, made up of representatives from the Government,
industry and academia, chaired by an independent, expert, authoritative
Chairman.
A long-term nuclear energy strategy
According to the Government, the UK's future supply
of nuclear energy will be determined by the market. Other evidence
indicates that, although electricity market reform may deliver
the necessary incentives in the period up to 2025, in the longer
term it will not be enough to maintain the necessary nuclear R&D
capabilities and associated expertise. The nuclear industry, Government
and the regulator rely on the research base to help to train the
next generation of experts and, once lost, these capabilities
will not easily be replaced. For this reason, the Government need
to set out a long-term nuclear strategy which will, in particular,
explain how they intend to maintain the nuclear R&D capabilities
and associated expertise required to keep the nuclear energy option
available into the future.
Furthermore, without a long-term strategy, companies
will have little incentive to invest in longer-term nuclear R&D
in the UK. As a result, the UK will be in a poor position to take
advantage of the very large global commercial opportunities that
nuclear R&D could provide. With appropriate Government investment
in nuclear research and by developing a new generation of experts,
UK companies could capture a significant part of the global market.
A nuclear R&D roadmap
The nuclear long-term strategy should include development
of a nuclear R&D roadmap which would, in particular, make
provision for closing gaps in UK nuclear R&D capabilities,
such as: facilities to carry out research on post-irradiated materials,
research on deep geological disposal, on the disposition of the
plutonium stockpile, on advanced fuel recycling and reprocessing,
and on Generation IV technologies. The roadmap should also aim
to establish the UK as a credible partner for international collaboration,
including a commitment by the Government to resume active participation
in the Generation IV Forum and to ensure that the internationally
important Phase 3 facilities at the National Nuclear Laboratory
(NNL) are commissioned.
An independent Nuclear R&D Board
To assist the Government in the development and implementation
of the long-term strategy and the R&D roadmap, we recommend
the establishment of a Nuclear R&D Board. To ensure its independence,
we propose that the new Board should be set up as a statutory
Non-Departmental Public Body (and, pending the necessary legislation,
as an Executive Agency), led by an externally-appointed, expert,
authoritative Chairman. In addition to advising the Government,
the Board would monitor, and report on, the Government's progress
with regard to the strategy and the roadmap. It would have an
R&D budget.
We also envisage the Board having a co-ordinating
function to remedy the fact that the present arrangement for the
support of nuclear R&D and training is haphazard, with the
activities of the various organisations involved in nuclear research
determined by their own narrow remits with, no single, overarching
body responsible for aligning them into a coherent programme that
meets national needs. The Board should also be charged with: examining
mechanisms to ensure that the UK is able to take a central role
in international nuclear research collaborations and signal to
the international research community that the UK is a credible
and willing partner for such collaborations, assist in the commercial
exploitation of nuclear research and play a role in public engagement,
recognising that the public acceptability of nuclear power will
be a crucial factor in determining its future use.
Who pays?
The Department for Energy and Climate Change seem
determined to relinquish any responsibility for funding, or helping
to secure funding, to maintain nuclear R&D capabilities and
associated expertise in the UK. In our view, the Government, along
with all other beneficiaries of nuclear R&D (particularly
industry), should ensure that there is adequate funding to support
the nuclear R&D roadmap. Without an increase in funding for
fission research in the order of £20-50 million a year, the
Government's intention that nuclear should play a part in meeting
the UK's future energy needs simply lacks credibility. This is
a small sum—equal to around 1% of the annual spend of £2.8
billion on decommissioning the UK's legacy waste—and compared
with £90 million a year spent on the highly successful programme
of fusion research.
Responsibility for specific types of nuclear R&D
capability
The current arrangement of organisations that carry
out, or commission, nuclear research do not make the most effective
use of existing facilities and expertise. We recommend that the
role of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in handling, and
commissioning research on, waste from new power stations should
be clarified, and that the Government should determine which body
should have responsibility for R&D in advanced fuel recycling
and reprocessing to ensure that these capabilities are not lost.
We also recommend that the current, very short-term, contract
for the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) should be extended and
that NNL should be charged, under the direction of the Board,
with carrying out applied research relevant to long-term strategic
needs in partnership with academia, other laboratories and industry.
1 UK Energy in Brief 2011, DECC, 2011. (Figures
for 2010) Back
2
The final output for 2011 will be dependent on plant closures
throughout the year (see Nuclear Fission, The Energy Research
Partnership, September 2010 ("the ERP Report") p 8-9) Back
3
The percentages of electricity supplied from the nuclear GW capacity
is heavily dependent on the energy scenario used to project future
supply and demand, these percentages should therefore be regarded
only as an indication of the range of contributions that nuclear
could supply to the overall electricity portfolio. (see Box 2,
page 27.) Back
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