3 Apr (NucNet): The trade union that represents workers in the UK’s nuclear energy industry has called on the government to establish a nationalised authority to bring on stream some of the nuclear power stations the country needs.
The GMB responded to the recent publication of the government’s nuclear industrial strategy by saying the government’s track record on energy, including nuclear, is “a shambles”.
It said the government should “re-task” the existing Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which oversees decommissioning and cleanup of the UK’s nuclear legacy, and re-name it as a nationalised UK Nuclear Development Authority to bring on stream nuclear power stations.
The union said in a statement: “Our nuclear industry is being hawked off piecemeal and the truth is there is no real delivery strategy to ensure the UK benefits from a nuclear renaissance as the country did from North Sea Oil.”
Gary Smith, GMB national secretary for energy and utilities, said: “Having a strategy is fine but who is going to implement it?”
GMB said the delay in agreeing the price to be paid for electricity to be generated by any new nuclear power stations is “very damaging” for investment, jobs and for a low carbon economy in the UK.
EDF Energy, which is planning to build two European Pressurised Water Reactors (EPRs) at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, is in discussions with the government over possible subsidies for new build.
Those subsidies would be in the form of a contract for difference (CfD) regime intended to stabilise returns for generators at a fixed level known as a “strike price” and insulate consumers by clawing back money from generators if the market price is higher than the strike price.
On 26 March 2013, the government published a report setting out its vision for the country’s nuclear industry and identifying the domestic new build and wider nuclear market as an essential platform to boost Britain’s nuclear commercial base and increase global market share.
Under one scenario outlined in the report, nuclear energy could contribute roughly 40 to 50 percent of the UK’s energy mix by 2050 compared with nearly 20 percent today.
Last month parliament’s energy and climate change committee called on ministers to urgently come up with a contingency plan in case the nuclear industry does not deliver new nuclear power stations.
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