The Annual Reports
WNISR
Essential News
WNISR
Figures & Tables
WNISR
in the Media
World Nuclear Power Reactors 1951–2023
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United Kingdom
Under Construction
2
Operating
9
Long-Term Outage
0
Closed
36
Number of Reactors
(as of April 2023)
35.8
Mean Age of Reactor Fleet
(as of April 2023)
14.8%
Stable
Nuclear Share in Electricity Production
(2021)
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10
WNISR
in the Media –
20 April 2022
BBC
News (U.K.)
How much nuclear power does the
UK
use and is it safe?
The government has announced plans to reduce the
UK
’s reliance on oil and gas by building as many as eight new nuclear reactors, as part of its new energy strategy. Published on 5 April 2022 The aim is that by 2050, up to 24 gigawatts (
GW
) of electricity will come from nuclear - 25% of the
UK
’s projected electricity demand. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says expanding the use of nuclear would help cut bills and resist “bullying” from Russia, which dominates the European gas market. What is (...)
WNISR
Essential News –
7 January 2022
WNISR
EDF
Energy Closes Hunterston B-2 Reactor in the
UK
WNISR
, 7 January 2022 Hunterston B-2, a 495 MWe Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (
AGR
) was shut down for the last time around noon on 7 January 2022. The reactor, located on the Ayrshire coast in the west of Scotland and owned by Électricité de France (
EDF
) subsidiary
EDF
Energy, was connected to the grid on 31 March 1977, four years later than planned. Following the closure of Hunterston B-1 on 26 November 2021, it brings to an end nearly 58 years of commercial nuclear operations at the site, and (...)
WNISR
Essential News –
19 December 2021
WNISR
EDF
’s Hunterston B-1 Reactor in the
UK
Permanently Closed
WNISR
, 19 December 2021 Hunterston B-1, a 490 MWe Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (
AGR
), located on the Ayrshire coast in the west of Scotland, shut down for the last time on 26 November 2021. The 490 MWe reactor, owned by
EDF
Energy, was connected to the grid on 6 February 1976. The remaining reactor at the site, the 44-year-old Hunterston B-2, is scheduled to be closed in early January 2022, ending nearly 58 years of commercial nuclear operations at the site. The closures will reduce (...)
WNISR
in the Media –
16 December 2021
Wall Street Journal (
USA
)
U.K., Joining Trend, Sees Nuclear as Key to Cut Carbon Emissions
Britain’s plan for net-zero carbon output by 2050 includes new nuclear investments, with China, France and India also expanding production By Max Colchester, Jennifer Hiller and Paul Vieira Published 19 October 2021 The
U.K.
said Tuesday that nuclear power would play an important role in underpinning its plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions, joining a growing group of countries turning back to atomic energy as they consider how to wean themselves off fossil fuels. The announcement comes as (...)
WNISR
in the Media –
4 October 2021
Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Nuclear power: Downward trend ahead of climate summit
Ten years since the Fukushima disaster, expensive nuclear energy plants are being shut down across the world as renewable power prices plummet. by Stuart Braun Published 28 September 2021 In the face of soaring gas prices in the
UK
, some incumbent conservative politicians are pushing nuclear energy as the savior. The argument goes that the energy source has low carbon emissions, and that new smaller reactors can more quickly be brought online. Rolls-Royce stands ready to build 16 new (...)
WNISR
Essential News –
10 June 2021
WNISR
EDF
Energy Closes Two Reactors in the United Kingdom—More to Come
WNISR
, 10 June 2021 On 7 June 2021,
EDF
Energy, to the surprise of many, announced that it would not seek to restart the two reactors at its Dungeness B nuclear power plant in Kent, United Kingdom. The Dungeness B nuclear power plant will remain closed. — Photo
EDF
The station had not operated since September 2018—and was thus considered by
WNISR
in Long-Term Outage (
LTO
)—while
EDF
was “managing a range of unique, significant and ongoing technical challenges”. As recently as October 2020,
EDF
(...)
WNISR
Essential News –
18 March 2020
WNISR
Strangely Belated Announcement of Hinkley Point C-2 Construction Start
Strangely Belated Announcement of Hinkley Point C-2 Construction Start
EDF
Energy continues to distort definitions of construction time
WNISR
, 18 March 2020 On 10 December 2019, formal construction began on the second European Pressurized Water Reactor (
EPR
) at Hinkley Point C (
HPC
-2) in the U.K., according to an email by
EDF
Energy spokesperson Gordon Bell, dated 16 March 2020. According to an internationally accepted definition by the International Atomic Energy Agency (
IAEA
) and applied (...)
WNISR
in the Media –
18 January 2019
Reuters (
UK
)
Hitachi halts
UK
nuclear project as energy supply crunch looms
Reuters, 17 January 2018
UK
govt says will pursue alternative funding models Hitachi
CEO
denies Brexit affected decision Horizon keeps option open to resume development
CGN
to bring forward plans for Bradwell site (Adds details on jobs) By Nina Chestney and Makiko Yamazaki
LONDON
/
TOKYO
, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Japan’s Hitachi Ltd put a $28 billion nuclear power project in Britain on hold on Thursday, dealing a blow to the country’s plans for the replacement of ageing plants. Hitachi’s
UK
unit (...)
WNISR
Essential News –
29 December 2018
The Oddly Discreet Construction Start of Hinkley Point C
WNISR
, 29 December 2018
EDF
Energy announced on 11 December 2018 the completion of the first part of the concrete pouring for the base slab for unit 1 of the Hinkley Point C (
HPC
) nuclear power plant. Four more pours of concrete will be required before the so-called “raft” that supports the reactor building will be complete, work is expected to be concluded in 2019. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (
IAEA
) definition, the official “construction start”, is “the date when first (...)
The Annual Reports –
4 September 2018
Nuclear Power: Strategic Asset, Liability or Increasingly Irrelevant?
The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2018 Released
Paris, London, 4 September 2018. Nuclear power plants added a total of 7-gigawatt (
GW
) capacity to the world’s electricity grids in 2017 and the first half of 2018, a tiny fraction of the total from all sources, which is estimated at some 257
GW
(net) in 2017, including 157
GW
of renewable capacity (the largest increase ever). Over that 18-month period, six reactors started up in China, two in Russia and one in Pakistan. For the third year in a row, excluding China, global nuclear power generation has declined, finds the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2018 (
WNISR2018
).
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10