POWER May 2014 - 65

POWER POLICY
are slated to close in the next decade as they
reach the end of their lives. (See " UK Uses
'Lead and Learn' Strategy for Magnox Reactor
Fleet Decommissioning " in the April
2014 issue at powermag.com.) To meet its
carbon reduction emissions target, the UK
will need to replace all this lost capacity;
the 2012 ENSG report assumed 12.3 GW of
nuclear power in 2020.
Finding commercial partners for such a
large program has been challenging, but the
future now looks promising. Up to 15 GW of
new capacity looks reasonably secure in the
hands of three different consortia.
Furthest along is a reactor to be built by
EDF, with Chinese backing, at the existing
Hinkley Point nuclear site on England's
west coast. If all goes well, the 1,650-MW
EPR reactor will be followed by three more:
a second Hinkley Point reactor plus two at
Sizewell, another existing nuclear site. British
utility company Centrica dropped out of
the Hinkley Point project last year.
In May 2012, German utilities RWE and
E.ON announced that their Horizon Nuclear
Power group would abandon its plan to build
new reactors at two existing sites: Wylfa and
Oldbury. By November 2012, however, Horizon
had been acquired by Hitachi, which now
plans to build two 1,300-MW Advanced Boiling
Water Reactors at each of the two sites.
The third consortium, NuGen, wants to
build two or three reactors near Sellafield-
Britain's oldest nuclear site, though it has not
had a power reactor for many years.
NuGen began as a joint venture between
GDF Suez, Iberdrola, and SSE. SSE left
the consortium in 2011. In December 2013,
Toshiba said it would buy out Iberdrola, leaving
it with 60% of the consortium and GDF
Suez with the remaining 40%.
NuGen, which originally described itself
as technology-neutral, had by 2013 narrowed
its reactor choices to either AREVA's EPR (2
x 1,650 MW) or the Westinghouse AP1000 (3
x 1,100 MW). Toshiba's ownership of Westinghouse
has settled the matter, and the first
of the three AP1000 reactors is scheduled to
come on stream in 2024.
Nuclear's High Cost
Getting this far was a struggle. The government's
current Energy Bill, introduced to
Parliament last November and currently before
the House of Lords, has essentially the
sole purpose of getting new nuclear and renewable
capacity built by guaranteeing minimum
prices for producers.
The price-setting mechanism, known as
" Contracts for Difference " (CfD), sets out a
" strike price " for each generating technology.
Producers will receive the strike price for as
long as this remains above the wholesale price.
In the case of nuclear it took a strike price
of £92.50/MWh-around twice the wholesale
power price-to get EDF to agree to go
ahead with the £16 billion Hinkley Point C
project. The other nuclear consortia were not
involved in the detailed negotiations, so the
need for a timely agreement gave EDF an effective
monopoly. (If Sizewell C goes ahead,
the strike price will fall to £89.50/MWh.)
Nuclear has broad support across the UK
political spectrum, and the Labour Party has
said that if it wins power next year, it will
honor the agreement with EDF. Many of those
on the left still distrust nuclear on grounds of
safety and cost but believe it is essential to
meet carbon emissions targets for the next few
decades. Most Conservatives believe nuclear
is cheaper and more acceptable than wind.
Brussels Strikes Back
In the run-up to the Energy Bill, Energy Secretary
Davey said he would not sign any nuclear
deal unless it was affordable, gave value for
money, and met the coalition government's
promise that there should be no public subsidy.
Yet critics believe the high strike price
(which will soon be above that paid for onMissing
Marmaduke?
Now you can have a collection of
Marmaduke Surfaceblow troubleshooting
stories for your own library.
Steve Elonka began chronicling the exploits of Marmaduke
Surfaceblow-a fictional six-foot-four marine engineer
with a steel brush mustache and a foghorn voice-in
POWER in 1948, when he raised the wooden mast of
the SS Asia Sun with the help of two cobras and a case
of Sandpaper Gin. Surfaceblow's simple solutions to
seemingly intractable plant problems remain timeless.
This anthology, first published in 1979, highlights many of
Marmaduke's exploits that occurred during his early years
(pre-WW I) through the 1960s.
Surfaceblow's knowledge comes from hands-on
experience operating steam power plants and all manner
of machinery. Later in the series a son, Guy Newcomen
Surfaceblow, was introduced. He is a university-trained
engineer who also has field experience that gives him
credibility when working with hard-boiled characters
in the boonies. The character's name was coined from
Marmaduke, a Scottish name, and Surfaceblow, which is
the action of removing impurities from a steam boiler.
Here, you will find all of Surfaceblow's adventures
consolidated into a single volume. Many of the stories were
inspired by actual events.
Available in a PDF format. 321 pages.
Visit store.powermag.com for your copy.
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POWER May 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER May 2014
