NEW NUCLEAR POWER PROJECTS WILL NOT BEGIN TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY FOR DECADES, EVEN IF STARTED NOW.

 

How long do you want to wait for your energy source? On 7th April 2022 Boris Johnson announced his new energy strategy in response to the urgent need for new energy sources due to the war in the Ukraine. But the stark truth is that nuclear power will NOT be able to meet our immediate needs. 

 

Research shows slight variations in the time line from initial plans to finally producing electricity for the grid, but everyone is agreed that wind turbines are a fast option. Nuclear is very slow.

 

 The CEO of Octopus energy (an energy firm that only uses renewable energy) said on radio 4’s Today programme, on 6th April 2022, “An on-shore wind farm can be built and running in a year. An off shore wind farm can be built in 2 years.

 

Renewables First say “The wind turbine project timeline depends on the scale of the project, the site complexity and environmental sensitivity. For a typical single 500 kW wind turbine project it would be reasonable to assume a project duration of two years" A nuclear power plant will take from 14 to 18 years from planning to being on line. 

 

Hinkley Nuclear Power plant applied for land use permission in 2008, was granted a licence in 2012 and the expected date for completion now is June 2026. 18 years from start to production. “Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (HPC) is a project to construct a 3,200 MWe nuclear power station with two EPR reactors in Somerset, England. The site was one of eight announced by the British government in 2010, and in November 2012 a nuclear site licence was granted. On 28 July 2016, the EDF board approved the project, and on 15 September 2016 the UK government approved the project with some safeguards for the investment.” Wikipedia. 

 

World Nuclear news say “EDF has again revised the schedule and budget for the commissioning of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant under construction in Somerset, England. The start of electricity generation from unit 1 is now expected in June 2026, compared with end-2025 as initially announced in 2016. Delays arising from the pandemic will also increase the cost of the project by GBP500 million (USD684 million) to GBP23 billion.” 

 

 Meanwhile the sister plant to Hinkley, at Flammenville, Normandy is currently 9 years behind it’s promised start date. 15 years just for the construction! We were told that EDF’s experience of building Flammenville was why the Government chose EDF, a French company, to build Hinkley. Construction at Flammenville started in 2007 . (Planning and development years and licence granting before that) Guardian 2017 Dec 21. And Power Technology Dec 2017

 

Marc Jacobson, Stanford University's Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Director, Atmosphere/Energy Program says “ the average time to build a nuclear power station is around 14.5 years, from the planning phase all the way to operation. Utility-scale wind and solar farms, on the other hand, take on average only 2 to 5 years, from the planning phase to operation. Rooftop solar PV projects are down to only a 6-month timeline.