Nuclear energy
Nuclear energy has received some bad press over the years, which may turn many people off from working in the industry.
With the fallout from serious incidents at nuclear power plants worldwide - most infamously Chernobyl - along with the fact that there is no safe way to store the toxic waste from power plants, it is a wonder governments are considering nuclear as an alternative energy solution to fossil fuels.
Britain's power stations
Nuclear power stations currently produce about a quarter of Britain's electricity. Many are now too old to continue to operate efficiently and safely and are being closed down.
There are currently 16 nuclear power plants in Britain half operated by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) and the other half by British Energy. All power stations runs by BNFL will close by 2010 and by British Energy by 2023. This will leave one power plant in Suffolk running until 2035. The power stations have long outlived their 20-25 year life expectancy.
With the UK now a net importer of Gas & soon to be a net importer of Oil, the pressure to find alternative means to generate power is further increased. In addition, Britain only has one small inter-connector to the European Power Grid, (in France).
There is therefore a strong case for Nuclear Power to represent the UK’s most realistic & cost effective means to maintain self sufficiency in electricity production. In October 2006, Sir Nicholas Stern’s report to the government on the Economics of Climate Change, highlighted the significant business opportunities in the new markets and warned of damage to economic growth if climate change is ignored.
Carbon emissions
Well-constructed power plants are extremely clean, and coal-fired power plants can actually release more radioactivity into the atmosphere. Kevin Anderson, a senior research fellow at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, has said that replacing nuclear reactors with gas and coal power stations by 2020 would raise carbon emissions by 4-8%.
Radioactive material also produces vastly more energy than the equivalent amount of fossil fuel. To give an example of how much energy is produced, one nuclear fuel pellet about two centimetres long produces the same amount of electricity as one and a half tonnes of coal. Nuclear power stations produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fossil-fuelled power stations.
Nuclear careers
The current government focus is on the decommissioning of all UK nuclear power stations over the next 20 years, along with the planned development of 20 new facilities. The nuclear market has considerable potential.
Nuclear energy careers are varied and can range from technologists employed to locate underground natural resources, engineers to design power plants and supervise operations, reactor operators to run the controls at a power plant, and nuclear scientists who explore ways to improve safety and efficiency.
The UK’s capability to deliver a new Nuclear build programme would see the UK able to supply 70% of the engineering expertise. This would equate to:
- 2% of current UK Civil Engineering capacity
- 5% of current Mechanical & Electrical capacity
- 2% of Project Management / technical support services
In total, this is 70,000 man years of work to deliver five twin unit power stations over 20 years.
