Britain’s nuclear hits milestone as eyes are glued to COP26

The current nuclear fleet has produced the equivalent electricity to power all the UK’s homes for 18.5 years, according to the Nuclear Industry Association

The UK’s nuclear power stations have today hit a milestone as all eyes turned to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow.

The existing nuclear fleet has reached a total of 2,000TWh of power generation.

That’s enough electricity to power all the UK’s 29 million homes for 18.5 years.

The current fleet is predicted to have saved 1.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions – that is higher than all UK emissions from 2018 through 2020.

The UK has currently seven nuclear power stations, of which Hunterston B, Hinkley Point B, Heysham I and Hartlepool projects are all scheduled to retire by the end of March 2024.

Last week, the government introduced a new finance model aimed at reducing the overall cost of new nuclear power stations in Britain.

A few days later, the Autumn Budget has unveiled the government’s ambition to inject £1.7 billion into a new large-scale nuclear power station.

Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: “Nuclear has made a historic contribution to the UK’s fight against climate change.

“Since all but one of the current nuclear fleet will be offline by 2030, we can only sustain this contribution if we build new nuclear power stations that will provide the firm, low carbon power we need for net zero.

“That is why the government’s introduction of a new nuclear financing model is critical to mobilise new investment and close the clean power gap.”

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