Energy security gives climate-friendly nuclear-power plants a new appeal
To make good on it they have to get easier to build
The world’s largest crane, Big Carl, trundles up and down the railway which bisects the site. To the south are cavernous temporary structures which serve as factory floors, sheltered from the elements, cranking out modules of steel and concrete. Big Carl (pictured, above) takes gentle hold of these components, lifts, turns and gently sets them down. Piece by gigantic piece, the newest nuclear power plant in the Western world is taking shape. When it is finished its two nuclear reactors will be able to supply Britain’s grid with 3.2 gigawatts (gw) of power, providing about 7% of the country’s electricity needs.
Over the four years that Hinkley Point c (hpc) has been under construction on the edge of the Bristol Channel in the west of England, it has consistently been held up as an example of the industry’s current problems. Nuclear energy’s long-standing cost and schedule issues used to mean it was hard put to compete with natural gas and coal. Now they make it hard for nuclear to compete with ever-cheapening renewable energy.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline "Nuclear family"
From the June 25th 2022 edition
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