Nuclear could be UK’s most ‘cost-effective’ low-carbon technology

Nuclear power could be the most cost effective option for low-carbon energy and account for nearly 40 per cent of electricity production by 2030, according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), as tensions over their forth carbon budget released last December boil over at Westminster.

In their Renewable Energy Review (9 May) the CCC propose that nuclear could provide the same quantity of power generation as all renewable energy technologies combined, being the most cost-effective option, along with onshore wind.  

Launching the report, CCC chair Lord Adair Turner, said that while nuclear would play a role in the immediate future, once other renewable technologies develop further and their costs are lowered they could overtake nuclear by 2030.

Questioning Turner, Doug Parr, chief scientist at Greenpeace raised concerns over the costs of nuclear estimated in the report, which should look “not only at the actual costs but the risks…things like long-term waste-management costs, long term liability, major-accident risk liability, which fall on the state because there is simply nowhere else for them to go”

Turner said: “It is about a very small probability of catastrophic events which essentially society socialises, it doesn’t demand the electricity generators take out insurance for the total absolute meltdown. It is similar to other risks that you have in society; you can’t buy insurance for the risk of the earth being hit by a meteorite – there are some things which are sufficiently small in probability but catastrophic, that we live with.

“I think those dangers are very, very low and you just have to work out how low they are before your willing to live with them.”

He also stressed the lessons that would be learnt from the events at the Fukushima plant in Japan in March, and praised the government’s review into it.

As part of their latest review the committee said that renewables should provide between 30 and 45 per cent of the nation’s total energy by 2030. It also suggested that ministers should relax ambitions for offshore wind, which remains a fairly expensive choice to ensure targets are met from various renewable technologies.

Currently, and for some years onshore wind and nuclear remain the most cost-effective solutions, inline with gas production.

The committee strongly promotes a portfolio approach to energy production, and say that while market arrangements should be made to encourage competitive investment in mature technologies (including nuclear and onshore wind), additional support should be provided for less mature technologies including CCS and offshore wind.

The report found that most emphasis should be placed on technologies where there is potential for the UK to drive down the cost curve. Technologies such as PV, where development will be determined outside the UK, should have less focus, they said.

The CCC review coincided with their proposals set out in the Fourth Carbon Budget in December 2010, covering the period 2023 to 2027 – a requirement under the Climate Change Act.

The government are set to propose draft legislation for the forth budget, with David Cameron expected to announce next week whether he will accept the proposals put forward by the CCC.

However, in a leaked letter to the Guardian, Vince Cable has said he will not support the proposals, as they are not cost effective, and has urged for a cabinet meeting into the proposals and a Treasury impact analysis to be included in the decision.

In the letter he wrote, “It is important that we strike the right balance between our pursuit to decarbonise the UK economy whilst ensuring that UK economic growth and employment is sustained."

This will come as another blow to Chris Huhne. In another letter leaked to the Guardian, Andy Atkins, Executive Director of Friend’s of the Earth called for Huhne to resign in protest if ministers tried to offer a watered-down approach to the proposals.

The CCC recommended the latest carbon budget proposes a 50 per cent carbon reduction by 2027 compared to 1990 level.

 

Image: Blatant World | flickr