Powerful incentives

With the UK facing the twin spectres of climate change and over-dependence on energy sources from abroad, nuclear power is once again at the top of the national agenda. That means the focus is also turning to the skills base needed to support the UK's nuclear industry, and whether it is in a fit state to meet the challenges ahead.

While no final decision on the future of nuclear new-build has been made, projections suggest that the country will be importing about three quarters of its primary energy by 2020 if nuclear power is allowed to decline. In its last energy White Paper the government made clear its intention that nuclear will continue to play a part in securing the UK's future energy provision.

Nuclear power currently accounts for around 20 per cent of UK generation, though many plants are reaching the end of their lives. All of the country's 12 nuclear stations, which use mainly second-generation advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs), will have closed by 2023. Already, five of the nine first-generation Magnox stations, most of which were built in the 1960s, have closed after operating safely beyond their expected lives. Meanwhile, there is legislative pressure from the EU and beyond to lower the UK's high carbon dioxide emissions. Although significant resources have been ploughed into developing a new generation of renewable energy sources, these are coming nowhere near filling the generation gap that nuclear's demise would create.