Colin McInnes
While the focus of the UK nuclear sector is on the new-build programme,
recent results from EDF remind us that existing nuclear capacity is still a
major player in the UK energy scene.
Their nuclear fleet is now delivering more electrical energy than at any
time during the past eight years, resulting in a boost for operating
profits. And with a 10-year life-extension for Dungeness B due to be
finalised later this year, nuclear investments from the 1970s and 80s will
still be paying dividends for many years to come.
Nowhere is the contribution of the UK nuclear fleet more apparent than in
Scotland, with two reactors at Hunterson and Torness. Though a little-known
fact, through these two compact plants, nuclear is the largest generator of
electrical energy in Scotland by some margin, as it has been for many
years. Indeed, the output from the single nuclear plant at Torness alone (9
TWh) comfortably exceeds the combined output of every wind, wave and solar
generator in Scotland (8.3 TWh). This clearly illustrates the benefit of
energy-dense fuels used in compact and efficient thermal plants, which can
provide continuous output over a plant life of many decades.
While Scotland is pitched as the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, it’s
steadfastly nuclear-powered.
In contrast, the arbitrary government target of generating the equivalent
of 100% of Scotland’s electrical energy consumption from diffuse and
intermittent renewable resources by 2020 is perplexing. While climate
change targets are mooted as one of the primary motivations, Scotland’s
electrical energy generation is in fact already 100% low carbon, as
measured against the government’s own metric.
In 2012, Scottish electrical energy consumption was 30.8 TWh, while
production from our two compact nuclear plants was 17.0 TWh, all wind, wave
and solar production was 8.3 TWh, hydro 4.8 TWh and other renewables 1.6 TWh.
Output from low carbon sources therefore exceeded domestic consumption, a
fact that is rarely noted, or indeed celebrated by government and
environmental NGOs. To do so would be to acknowledge the reality of the
immense contribution of nuclear energy to Scotland’s electrical energy
production, and indeed its exports to the rest of the UK.
Colin McInnes is Professor of Engineering Science at the University of
Strathclyde
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