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United Kingdom
Under Construction
2
Operating
9
Long-Term Outage
0
Closed
36
Number of Reactors
(as of August 2026)
39.2
Mean Age of Reactor Fleet
(as of August 2026)
12.3%
Decrease
Nuclear Share in Electricity Production
(2025)
1
2
WNISR
in the Media –
17 February 2025 [ko]
ESG
경제 (South Korea)
영국, 원전 건설 속도 낸다...
SMR
승인, 원전 부지 규제 완화
에너지 가격과 탈탄소화 ‘두마리 토끼’ 잡을지 주목 김현경 • 6 February 2025 [
ESG
경제신문=김현경 기자] 영국 정부가 신규 원자력 발전소 건설에 속도를 내기 위해 소형모듈원자로(
SMR
) 건설을 승인하고 원전 건설 부지 제한을 철폐하는 등 인허가 규제를 완화했다. 영국 정부는 6일 보도자료를 통해 이같이 밝혔다. 정부는 영국에서 가장 최근 완공된 원전 프로젝트가 1995년에 이뤄졌다면서 “더욱 깨끗하고 저렴한 에너지를 확보하기 위한 글로벌 경쟁에서 영국은 뒤처져 있다”고 자평했다. 현재 영국엔 3.
2GW
규모의 원전 ‘힝클리 포인트 C’ 단 한 개가 건설 중에 있다. 그러나 가디언지에 따르면 지난 2016년 착공 승인을 받은 힝클리 원전은 인플레이션 등 비용 상승과 각종 규제로 인한 공사 지연으로 고전하고 있다. 정부는 특히 이번 규제 개편이 “
SMR
이 영국 내 최초로 건설될 수 있는 길을 열어줄 것”이라고 강조했다. 영국 지속가능성 매체 (…)
WNISR
in the Media –
26 February 2024
Physics Today (U.S.)
UK
, like
US
, begins subsidizing fuel for advanced reactors
The
UK
government announces a plan to wean the country from dependence on Russian nuclear fuel and to quadruple its nuclear power capacity by 2050. by David Kramer • 26 January 2024 The
UK
government will invest £300 million ($380 million) to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (
HALEU
), it announced this month, with the express intent to end Russia’s monopoly on the fuel, which is needed for most advanced nuclear reactors. Likely to be built at the Capenhurst nuclear complex in (…)
WNISR
in the Media –
16 January 2024
Power Technology (
UK
)
UK
fossil fuel use drops to lowest level since 1957
A 2023 analysis from Carbon Brief shows a 22% drop in coal and gas use in the
UK
electricity mix. by Kit Million Ross • 3 January 2024 A new report has revealed that
UK
electricity generation from fossil fuels has fallen to the lowest level since 1957. Analysis from Carbon Brief, published on 3 January, shows a 22% year-on-year drop in fossil fuel usage in 2023, meaning fossil fuels account for just 33% of the
UK
’s energy mix. Electricity generated from fossil fuels in 2023 totalled (…)
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. (…)
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, (…)
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 (…)
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 (…)
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 (…)
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2