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United Kingdom (UK) is an abbreviated form of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The UK consists of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and lies in north-western Europe, occupying the major portion of the British Isles. The country’s only land boundary is with the Republic of Ireland. The UK is separated from the coast of Western Europe by the English Channel to the south and by the North Sea to the east. The northern and western shores are washed by the Atlantic Ocean.

Generally, the United Kingdom has cool to mild winters and warm summers, with moderate variation in temperature throughout the year. In England, the average annual temperature varies from 8.5 °C in the north to 11 °C in the south, but over the higher ground this can be several degrees lower. This small variation in temperature is to a large extent due to the moderating effect the Atlantic Ocean has—water has a much greater specific heat capacity than air, and tends to heat and cool slowly throughout the year. This has a warming influence on coastal areas in winter and a cooling influence in summer.

On average, the warmest winter temperatures occur on the south and west coasts, although warm temperatures occasionally occur due to a foehn wind warming up the downwind after crossing the mountains. Temperatures in these areas can rise to 15 °C in winter, on rare occasions. This is a particularly notable event in northern Scotland, mainly Aberdeenshire, where these high temperatures can occur in midwinter even when the sun only reaches about 10° above the horizon.

July is on average the warmest month, and the highest temperatures tend to occur away from the Atlantic, in southern, eastern and central England, where summer temperatures can rise above 30 °C (86 °F). It soared to 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent in the summer of 2003, the highest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom.

According to the 2011 census, the total population of the United Kingdom is around 65,000,000—the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the 22nd-largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world, at 660 people per square mile, due to the particularly high population density in England (currently over 1000 people per square mile). Almost one-third of the population lives in England's southeast and is predominantly urban and suburban, with about 7.8 million in the capital city of London, the population density of which is almost 13,000 people per square mile.

TABLE 1. POPULATION INFORMATION

Source: World Band World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance; http://databank.worldbank.org/

GDP at purchaser's prices is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current U.S. dollars. Dollar figures for GDP are converted from domestic currencies using single-year official exchange rates. For countries where the official exchange rate does not reflect the rate effectively applied to actual foreign exchange transactions, an alternative conversion factor is used.

TABLE 2. GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

Source: World Band World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance; http://databank.worldbank.org/

Over the past decade, UK oil and gas production has declined at a faster rate than consumption, resulting in the country returning to being a net energy importer in 2004. Oil remains important to the UK’s energy mix, accounting for 36% of the UK’s total primary energy consumption. The UK is a significant producer of natural gas, however, the country increasingly relies on natural gas imports. Natural gas-fired power stations have replaced coal as the principle source of UK power supply.

TABLE 3. RESERVES OF FOSSIL FUELS AND URANIUM AND POTENTIAL RENEWABLE ENERGY

In 1970, fuel consumption was dominated by solid fuel use (47% of all energy consumption in the UK) and petroleum (44%), with gas contributing a further 5% and electricity 4%. By 1980, the fuel mix had evolved, with natural gas making up 20% of all energy consumption in the UK, along with solid fuels (36%) and petroleum (37%). In 1990, the split between fuels was similar to that in 1980. However, by 2000, with changes in electricity generation, natural gas consumption had become the dominant fuel, responsible for 41% of all energy consumption in the UK, while solid fuels had fallen from 31% in 1990 to 17% in 2000. By 2010, more renewable fuels had entered the energy mix. Table 4 shows the change in fuel consumption every ten years, between 1970 and 2010.

TABLE 4. ENERGY STATISTICS (EXAJOULES)

Evidence of potentially damaging man-made climate change has resulted in broad agreement on the need to decarbonise the energy system, while maintaining secure energy supplies at the least cost to consumers. The Government is committed to meeting the legally binding targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050 and source 15% of energy from renewables by 2020.

Within a market based energy system, and with severe constraints on the public purse, the Government aims to catalyse private sector investment in new infrastructure and in energy efficiency.

Energy Act 2011

The Energy Act provides for some of the key elements of the Coalition’s Programme for Government and its first Annual Energy Statement.

The Act provides for a step-change in the provision of energy efficiency measures to homes and businesses, and makes improvements to our framework to enable and secure low-carbon energy supplies and fair competition in the energy markets.

Energy Act 2013

The Energy Act 2013 establishes a legislative framework for delivering secure, affordable and low-carbon energy. At its core is the need to ensure that, as older power plants are taken offline (a fifth of current capacity within 10 years) and electricity demand continues to increase (it will double over the next 40 years), the UK remains able to generate enough energy to meet its needs. This requires significant investment in new infrastructure to be brought forward – over GBP 100 billion – and new schemes to be integrated, in order to ensure that this investment will contribute to the drive to meet renewables and decarbonisation targets.

The cornerstone of this Act, Electricity Market Reform, includes:

• Contracts for Difference – long-term instruments to provide stable and predictable incentives for companies to invest in low-carbon generation;

• Final Investment Decisions – to enable early investment in advance of Contracts for Difference;

• Capacity Market – to provide security of electricity supply, if required, by ensuring sufficient reliable capacity is available;

• Conflicts of Interest and Contingency Arrangements – to ensure the institution which will deliver these two schemes is fit for the purpose;

• Renewables Transitional – to ensure that existing investments under the Renewables Obligation remain stable, and

• An Emissions Performance Standard – to curb the most-polluting fossil fuel power stations.

The regulatory environment is equally critical to investor confidence when the sums of money are so large (one consortia alone could invest around 20 billion euro in four new nuclear reactors). A coherent and stable regulatory environment minimises costs, creates jobs (Cogent, the Sector Skills Council, estimate that for each power plant there will be 5,000 jobs in construction and 1,000 longer-term operating jobs) and helps keep consumer energy bills low.

The Energy Act improves regulatory certainty by ensuring that Government and Ofgem are aligned at a strategic level through a Strategy and Policy Statement, as recommended in the Ofgem Review of July 2011.

The Act places the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on a statutory footing as the body to regulate the safety and security of the next generation of nuclear power plants.

With respect to Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales), responsibility for energy policy rests with the United Kingdom Government and Parliament. However, energy projects may involve areas of competence that have been devolved to the respective administrations of Scotland and Wales.

Within government, lead responsibility on energy matters outside Northern Ireland rested, until 12 April 1992, with the Secretary of State for Energy. On 13 April 1992, the Secretary of State's responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, except for energy efficiency, which was transferred to the Secretary of State for the Environment. On 3 October 2008, responsibility for both was passed to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, within the newly created Department of Energy and Climate Change.

In Northern Ireland, energy matters and associated issues, such as energy consents and planning, are largely devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly. The main exception is nuclear energy, which is dealt with by the UK Government and Parliament.

Electricity distribution networks carry electricity from the transmission systems and some generators that are connected to the distribution networks to industrial, commercial and domestic users.

There are 14 licensed distribution network operators (DNOs), each responsible for a distribution services area. The 14 DNOs are owned by six different groups. There are also four independent network operators, who own and run smaller networks embedded in the DNO networks.

Domestic and most commercial consumers buy their electricity from suppliers who pay the DNOs for transporting their customers' electricity along their networks.

The wholesale electricity market in England and Wales was reformed on 27 March 2001, when the Electricity Pool was replaced by New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA). This arrangement was extended to Scotland on 1 April 2005 with the introduction of the British Electricity Transmission and Trading Arrangements (BETTA).

The key features of BETTA are:

1. a forward market where generators are be able to contract with suppliers and large customers for the physical delivery of electricity. Such contracts can be struck close to the time of delivery or a year or more ahead;

2. two power exchanges (N2EX and APX Endex) to enable participants to refine their contract positions, through day-ahead auctions and continuous trading close to real time, in the light of current information (e.g. on the weather).;

3. a balancing mechanism, operating from 1 hour ahead of real time up to real time, managed by the National Grid Company (NGC). As electricity cannot be stored, NGC needs to manage the grid system on a second-by-second basis, and the balancing mechanism is the facility under the new arrangements which allows it to do this. However, the vast majority of trading takes place in the forward markets rather than in the Balancing Mechanism;

4. associated OTC and exchange-based derivatives markets (only on N2EX) to enable market participants to manage commercial risks; and

5. a settlement process to deal with the financial settlement of balancing mechanism trades, and to deal with those whose generation or consumption of electricity is out of balance with their contracted position.

Transmission Networks

The onshore transmission network is owned by three licensed Transmission Owners (TOs) - National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) in England and Wales, Scottish Hydro-Electric Transmission Ltd (SHETL) in Northern Scotland, and Scottish Power Transmission (SPT) in Southern Scotland.

NGET is also National Electricity Transmission System Operator (NETSO), and is responsible for overseeing and managing (balancing) the flow of electricity across the whole of the transmission network. This includes the elements owned and operated by SPT and SHETL. National Grid also co-ordinates connection offers to new generators.

Distribution Networks

There are 14 licensed distribution network operators (DNOs), each responsible for a geographical distribution services area. The 14 DNOs are owned by six different groups.

A new regulatory framework for offshore electricity transmission has been put in place. A key element to this framework is a competitive tender process run by Ofgem, to appoint Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs) to construct (where appropriate), own and operate the offshore transmission assets.

In Northern Ireland, all the electricity transmission and distribution lines are owned by Northern Ireland Electricity Ltd (NIE Ltd). The Transmission System Operator is System Operator Northern Ireland (SONI). SONI works in partnership with its counterpart in the Republic of Ireland, EirGrid, to act as the Single Energy Market Operator (SEMO) for the new all-island wholesale market for electricity, established in 2007.

Electricity Generation

Most electricity is generated at large power stations connected to the national transmission network. However, electricity can also be generated in smaller-scale power stations which are connected to the regional distribution networks. The number and type of power station built is the decision of each individual company, based on market signals and government policy on issues such as the environment. There are many companies in the electricity generation sector, from large multinationals to small, family-owned businesses running a single site.

Suppliers buy electricity from generators in the wholesale market and sell it on to customers. Suppliers work in a competitive market, and customers can choose any supplier to provide them with electricity.

Regulation of electricity markets in England, Wales and Scotland is the responsibility of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (GEMA), which is bound by statutory duties set out in the Electricity Act 1989. Members of the Authority are appointed by the Secretary of State. The Authority`s principle objective is to protect the interests of consumers.

An application for a new power station with a capacity of over 50 MW in England and Wales requires the consent of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate (consent powers are devolved in the case of plants in Scotland and Northern Ireland). In England and Wales, applications are made to the Planning Inspectorate (“PINS”) which, once it has accepted the application, will conduct an examination of the application including environmental assessment. Once the examination is complete, PINS will report its conclusions and recommendation to the Secretary of State. The processes of examination, recommendation and decision have defined timescales by which they must be completed.

In 2010, the energy industries contributed about 3.4% to GDP at basic prices. This is well below the peak level of 10.4%, achieved during the early 1980s. However, since then, energy Gross Value Added (GVA) has grown by an average of 1.9% per year, with the lower share a result of wider growth in the economy.

TABLE 5. ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION, CONSUMPTION AND CAPACITY

TABLE 6. ENERGY RELATED RATIOS

The United Kingdom (UK) has a wide range of nuclear power plants (NPPs) with a range of designs that span nearly 50 years. The first nuclear power plants, the Magnox reactors, started operation between 1956 and 1971. These are carbon dioxide gas-cooled graphite moderated reactors that use natural (or in some cases very slightly enriched) uranium fuel in a magnesium alloy cladding. The first nine NPPs had steel reactor pressure vessels while the last two (at Oldbury and Wylfa) had pre-stressed concrete reactor pressure vessels. These later designs had significant safety advantages over the steel pressure vessels since a sudden and unexpected failure of the main pressure vessel boundary was deemed to be virtually impossible. However, the use of natural uranium with magnesium alloy cladding limited the development of the Magnox technology regarding increasing power density and gas outlet temperature. As a result, the second generation of gas-cooled reactors to be developed in the UK were the advanced gas cooled reactors (AGR). Seven NPPs were commissioned between 1976 and 1988 each with two reactors. AGRs use enriched uranium oxide fuel in stainless steel cladding. This, together with the pre-stressed concrete pressure vessel, allowed gas outlet temperatures of over 600^oC and gas pressures of over 30 bar. The most recent NPP to be built in the UK is the pressure water reactor (PWR) at Sizewell B. The reactor became operational in 1995 and uses enriched uranium oxide fuel clad in Zircalloy and pressurised water as the coolant.

Following a public consultation in 2007, the UK Government published Meeting the Energy Challenge: A White Paper on Nuclear Power¹ in January 2008 (the White Paper). The White Paper set out the Government’s view that it was in the public interest to give the private sector the option of investing in new nuclear power stations as part of the UK’s strategy to tackle the challenges of climate change and security of energy supply. The UK considers nuclear energy, together with renewable resources and carbon capture and storage, as key elements to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions 80% by 2050. This target essentially implies the decarbonisation of the power sector by 2030. It is Government policy that new nuclear power should be able to contribute as much as possible to the UK’s need for new capacity. Energy companies have at present announced ambitions to construct up to 16GW of new nuclear power capacity, with the first station coming on-stream from 2023.

The 2008 White Paper set out the clear division of responsibilities between the public and the private sectors. The Government is responsible for the facilitative actions necessary for new nuclear to go ahead, including institutional and market reforms and defining policies for nuclear waste disposal and decommissioning. Companies will be responsible for the building and operation of new nuclear power stations and for decommissioning and meeting the costs of waste disposal. In October 2010, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change confirmed in Parliament that there would be no public subsidy for new nuclear power stations.

A simplified chart of main operations of the United Kingdom nuclear power programme is shown in Figure 1.

Source: DECC

FIGURE 1. UK CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The UK has 19 nuclear licensed sites with NPPs. This includes those sites that are shut down, are defueling or are decommissioning. As at the end of April 2012, there are 16 licensed reactors with a combined capacity of 10 GW still operating in the UK. The largest nuclear operator is EDF Energy UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricité de France (EDF), which purchased British Energy Group plc in January 2009. It runs eight NPPs, seven of which are the AGRs (a total of 14 reactors) and the remaining plant is the PWR at Sizewell B (one reactor). One Magnox NPP (Wylfa 1 with one reactor) is still in operation and is operated by Magnox Ltd. Table 7 shows the status of the NPPs in the UK up to 30 April 2012. The map at Figure 2 shows the locations of the UK’s NPP sites including those listed by the Government as potentially suitable for new build.

TABLE 7: STATUS OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

FIGURE 2. SITES OF EXISTING AND PROPOSED NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS IN THE UK.

Nuclear sites are licensed by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the regulator responsible for overseeing their safe operation. The UK has been undertaking safety reviews of its civil nuclear installations for many years as part of the regulatory process. UK nuclear site licences require periodic safety reviews (PSR) to be carried out, which means that the UK continually monitors and aims to improve the safety of its nuclear installations. The main PSRs are carried out every 10 years. However intermediate reviews are carried out at more frequent intervals and any identified necessary upgrading measures are implemented. Additionally, several of the licensees are looking to better integrate the periodic review into enhanced continuous improvement programmes that will deliver improvements throughout the station life.

The majority of the 11 Magnox NPPs had ceased operating by the end of 2006 and are now in various stages of being defueled or decommissioned. A further three (Oldbury A2, Oldbury A1 and Wylfa 2) were shut down between June 2011 and April 2012. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which was established in 2005, is responsible for a UK wide strategic focus on decommissioning and cleaning up of nuclear sites. In 2011, the NDA published its Strategy⁵ for delivering the nuclear clean-up programme including the decommissioning the UK’s legacy nuclear plants.

The UK reactor fleet is comparatively old and this inevitably gives rise to safety related ageing issues that need to be monitored and where necessary addressed. Some ageing issues are controlled and managed by maintenance and replacement of components. Other issues, such as the degradation of the graphite core affect items that cannot be replaced and therefore are closely scrutinised to ensure safety is maintained and, when appropriate, to determine when ageing could lead to the end of life of a reactor.

Operators previously stated that they expected up to 7.4 GW of existing nuclear capacity to close by 2019 (see indicative lifetime dates below). However, as part of their end of year results in 2012 EDF announced that they intend to undertake a programme of investment that will allow their AGR fleet to run for an average of 7 years beyond their previous indicative closure dates, and the PWR at Sizewell B to run for an additional 20 years.

SOURCE: DECC

The Government has taken a series of facilitative actions to encourage nuclear new build, and industry has proposed investment of up to 16 GW. The first reactor is scheduled to go online in 2023. New nuclear investments will be part of the total GBP 75 billion estimated for new power generation capacity needed by 2020. Three consortia are currently preparing for the construction of new nuclear power plants:

• NNB Genco (NNBG) is a joint venture led by EDF. NNBG has plans to build up to 6.4 GW at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk;

• Horizon Nuclear Power, owned by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd, has plans to build up to 6.6 GW at Wylfa in Anglesey and Oldbury in Gloucestershire;

• NuGen is a consortium of Toshiba / Westinghouse and Iberdrola. NuGen has plans to build up to 3.6 GW at Moorside near Sellafield in Cumbria;

• Among the consortia, NNB has made most progress having received a development consent order (planning permission) from the Department of Energy and Climate Change in March 2013 and regulatory approval (site licence, environmental permits and Generic Design Assessment of its EPR reactor design) in late 2012.

Generic Design Assessment (GDA) is one of the facilitative actions set out in the Nuclear White Paper 2008¹ and is undertaken by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency.  GDA is a voluntary process that allows regulators to begin consideration of the generic safety, security and environmental aspects of designs for NPPs prior to applications for site-specific licence and planning consents.

For new nuclear build, Section 45 of the Energy Act 2008⁶ requires prospective nuclear operators to submit a Funded Decommissioning Programme (FDP) for approval by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. The Department of Energy and Climate Change published final FDP statutory guidance⁷ in December 2011 to assist operators to develop their programmes. This will ensure that operators of new nuclear power stations make secure financial provisions for their waste and decommissioning liabilities from the outset.

The Government received an FDP submission from NNB in March 2012. Discussions with NNB are continuing and are expected to be concluded later in 2013.

Project management will be the responsibility of the commercial developers involved in the new nuclear programme in the UK.

New nuclear build in the UK is to be financed and operated by the private sector without public subsidies, including meeting the full costs of decommissioning and their full share of waste management and disposal costs.

Much of the future of nuclear energy in the UK hinges on the precise conditions of the Government’s announced reform of the electricity and carbon markets to promote low-carbon technologies. The 2011 White Paper Planning Our Electric Future: a White Paper for Secure, Affordable and Low-Carbon Electricity⁸ spelled out that the key element of the reform would consist of long-term feed-in tariffs (FiT) with contracts for difference (FiT/CfD) which would guarantee low carbon producers (including nuclear power producers) a fixed “strike price” over the contract. Coupled with a gradually rising price floor in the carbon market and a yet-to-be created capacity market, these reforms should make nuclear energy an attractive option for private investors.

The precise arrangements surrounding the contracts for difference are still subject to discussion. These include the level of the strike price; process for setting it, possibly through a tender or an auction; and the institutional arrangements required to handle multi-billion transfers over many years. From the point of view of the operator, the contract-for-difference part of a FiT/CfD is particularly attractive, since it provides financial and legal certainty over long timeframes, especially if coupled with a volume guarantee⁽¹⁾. Standard feed-in tariffs can be revoked through a routine regulatory or legal change, but legally binding private contracts that were cleared by a counter party independent of the UK Treasury would provide a significantly higher degree of certainty.

For the operator, a FiT/CfD is also preferable to a premium FiT (PFiT), which pays the operator a fixed premium over the market price. The PFit stabilises minimum revenue, but not average revenue and leaves a financial downside risk. If wholesale prices rise a FiT/CfD should be able to generate the same risk reduction benefit for the operator at an overall lower financial exposure for the Government. CfDs might also have the beneficial side-effect of allowing for increased competition at all levels of the electricity value chain, since they would remove the need for electricity producers to hedge themselves against wholesale price risk through vertical integration all along the value chain, including retail operations. The UK electricity markets are today dominated by the vertically integrated big six utilities, and the wholesale market is small and illiquid, a configuration that has recently come under increasing scrutiny by the public, politicians and regulators alike.

In the 2011 White Paper, the Government proposes that CfD would be available for all major low-carbon technologies, nuclear, renewables and Carbon Capture and Storage. This measure is deemed necessary to overcome the intrinsic disadvantage of low-carbon technologies in a free-market environment, namely a high ratio of fixed costs to variable costs, which makes such technologies vulnerable to the risk of sudden electricity price changes. Logically FiT/CfDs would only be available for new plants. In the absence of such stabilising measures, natural gas would be the fuel of choice for much of the required new investment, given the price uncertainty in the volatile UK power market. Even a carbon price on its own might not be able to overcome this bias. This in return would pose issues for the security of energy supply. Only the combination of the three main measures of UK electricity market reform – contracts for difference, carbon price floor and capacity market – is deemed to be able to fully internalise the negative externalities of climate change and security of supply risk.

From the point of view of the Government, the CfDs for low-carbon technologies would ideally be technology neutral. However, a first round of bidding will certainly involve differentiated strike prices offered to nuclear, renewables and CCS. In this line-up, nuclear is considered the most cost-effective low-carbon technology, before onshore wind, whereas offshore wind and CCS are considered more expensive. There is hope that the risk reduction inherent in CfDs would also reduce costs of financing low-carbon technologies across the board and that one day, a single CfD tender might be held for all technologies. However, in the near term, CfDs would be required to spur much needed investment. Owing to the pending closure of existing plant, including coal and nuclear plants, de-rated capacity margins will fall from today’s 20% to as low as 5% in some years by the end of the decade.

The Government’s National Policy Statement (NPS) for Nuclear Power Generation⁹ published in July 2011, sets out the UK Government’s policy on the siting of new nuclear power stations. It explains the need for new infrastructure and how the impacts of development should be assessed. The list of potentially suitable sites for the deployment of new nuclear power stations was an output of the Government’s Strategic Siting Assessment (SSA) process. Eight potential sites have been selected all of which are located next to existing nuclear facilities (see Figure 2). Detailed site selection information can be found in the NPS on the Government website at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-policy-statements-for-energy-infrastructure

In the UK, nuclear energy is considered primarily an industrial matter and, as such, the majority of R&D funding comes from the private sector. Public sector spending comes through a range of channels including the NDA, the Research Councils and through direct commissioning from Government departments.

For applied research, the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) was created in 2008 by a merger of Nexia Solutions, originally operated by BNFL, with the British Technology Centre. The NNL operates as a government owned commercial enterprise and focuses much of its efforts on applied research with direct industrial uses, alongside technical consultancy services to government.

Government expenditure on nuclear R&D totalled 66 million pounds in 2010/2011 and in 2011/2012 Government committed to just under an additional 30 million pounds of funding (including 15 million pounds for a National Nuclear User Facility and 12.5 million pounds towards the construction of the international Jules Horowitz Research Reactor) In addition the NDA has spent 42.5 million pounds on R&D over the last four years and over the last five years Research Council investment in nuclear research and training has increased from 3 million pounds to 11.7 million pounds per year.

The Government has completed a programme of work looking at the UK’s Nuclear R&D capabilities. This programme of work formed the basis of the Nuclear Industrial Strategy published in March 2013 and included: a Landscape Review of current R&D; the development of a long-term energy strategy to 2050 and beyond; an industrial vision statement for the same period, and; a Nuclear R&D roadmap to 2050.

The UKs nuclear R&D capability is distributed across a wide range of public and private sector organisations, including universities, national labs and industrial partners. This landscape has driven the establishment of organisations to facilitate co-operation and long-term technology needs analysis. This includes the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB), which brings together representatives from sectors active in nuclear R&D in order to recommend future choices in R&D and the Nuclear Innovation and Research Office, which acts as the Board’s secretariat and liaises with Government on its behalf.

FIGURE 3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENT R&D SUPPORT STRUCTURES

The UK is a member of the European Union (EU), the OECD/NEA and the IAEA as well as other bilateral and multilateral organizations. The UK Government supports EU programmes in the field of nuclear safety and nuclear waste management and participates in many OECD/NEA and IAEA projects.

The Nuclear Industrial Strategy also set out the Government’s intention to increase and improve its impact in international R&D fora.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) was established as an independent Public Corporation in April 2014, following legislation in the Energy Act 2013. ONR brings together the safety and security functions of HSE’s Nuclear Directorate, incorporating the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, Office of Civil Nuclear Security and the UK Safeguards Office. Since October 2011, the ONR has also had responsibility for the regulation of transport of radioactive materials by road, rail and inland waterways, which were previously dealt with by the Department for Transport’s Radioactive Materials Transport Division (now part of the ONR). The Chief Nuclear Inspector, who also heads the ONR, has the power to issue, add conditions to, and revoke nuclear site licences.

Regulatory oversight for radiological protection rests with the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales⁽³⁾, SEPA in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland. The Environment Agency oversees the implementation of the Environmental Permitting Regulations of 2010 (EPR10)11, which replace the Radioactive Substances Act of 199312(RSA 93) in England and Wales. RSA 93 remains in force in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The environment agencies oversee radioactive waste disposal at the UK’s nuclear sites, including site permits. They also regulate the storage and use of radioactive substances for non-nuclear users of radioactive materials such as hospitals and universities, while the ONR oversees the storage and use of radioactive substances at licensed nuclear sites. ONR and the environment agencies co-operate in fulfilling their respective missions.

Detailed information can be found on the respective websites of the UK’s regulatory bodies (see Appendix 2).

The safety of UK nuclear installations, and the protection of employees and the public from the potential hazards caused by them, is governed principally by provisions in the Nuclear Installations Act 1965¹³, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974¹⁴, the Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999¹⁵ made under it, EPR10 and RSA 93. No site may be used for the construction or operation of a commercial nuclear installation unless appropriate approval or planning permission has been given. The Nuclear Installations Act 1965 etc. (Repeals and Modifications) Regulations 1974¹⁶ made the HSE the nuclear licensing authority for UK nuclear sites. These powers, to grant a licence or not and to attach conditions, are delegated to the post of the Chief Nuclear Inspector, ONR.

The creation of the NDA, in 2005, has not changed the regulatory framework outlined above.

The ONR will not grant a nuclear site licence unless satisfied that a prospective operator has the capacity to meet all their stringent safety requirements from design through to decommissioning, in adherence to the licence conditions attached to the site licence. So as to demonstrate to the ONR that safety will be properly controlled at all stages of the “lifecycle of plant” on licensed sites, the operator is required to produce a comprehensive written "safety case" for each plant. The safety case must be revised and updated throughout the plant's operation, to take account of any changes in its operating conditions, and a new safety case be similarly established and maintained for decommissioning.

Ultimate responsibility for the safety of a nuclear installation is legally the responsibility of the operating company. They must execute all licence requirements to the ONR’s satisfaction. The principle is the same whether the operating company is in the public or private sector. The ONR carefully monitors the performance of nuclear installations against exacting standards and conditions. Should there be any doubt about a licensee's continued ability to meet its obligations, the ONR has extensive powers. They can, for example, include additional licence conditions at any time, direct the cessation of plant operation, and ultimately direct that it be shut down altogether. An operating company may surrender a licence (or it may be revoked by the ONR), but still retains responsibility for safety of the site until either a new licence for the site is issued or the HSE is satisfied that there ceases to be a danger from ionising radiation from the site.

EPR10 and RSA93 makes the Environment Agency the regulatory body for authorisation for the disposal of radioactive waste in respect of nuclear licensed sites in England and Wales and SEPA the regulatory body for Scotland, respectively. As part of the Basic Safety Standards Directive 96/29/Euratom¹⁷ a number of the environment agencies’ existing administrative practices under RSA 93 were made legally binding obligations.

There is close liaison between ONR, the Environment Agency and SEPA under the terms of Memoranda of Understanding, which set out the lead roles of the organisations and requirements for liaison and consultation.

As far as security regulation is concerned, nuclear power stations and associated laboratories are regulated separately under the Nuclear Generating Stations (Security) Regulations 1996¹⁸.

The Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003¹⁹, provides a single, clarified and updated legislative basis for security regulation of those holding nuclear material and sensitive nuclear information, and introduced direct regulation of those transporting nuclear material.