Tidal Current Energy

Nuclear Power (Fission)
Carbon emission reductions were significant relative to gas-fired plant. The
annual carbon emissions reduction from investing in 1 GW of nuclear plant is
approximately 2.6 � 10 6 tonnes of CO 2 (7.125 � 10 5 tonnes of carbon) per gigawatt
compared with investment in gas-fired plant (after allowing for emissions from
construction of nuclear plant and mining/processing uranium) ( ‘ life-cycle emissions
’ ). A program to add 6 GW of new nuclear capacity (a realistic assessment of
how much could be constructed and operational by 2025) would reduce annual
emissions by around 16 � 10 6 tonnes of CO 2 (4.3 � 10 6 tonnes of carbon). Valuing
emissions savings at a CO 2 price of €36 or £25 per tonne gave a present value
benefit of around £1.5 � 10 9 per gigawatt over 40 years from nuclear new build.
With regard to the contribution to meeting target emissions, nuclear generation
was cost-effective when compared with other forms of low carbon generation.
Given the need for capacity both before and during the period when new nuclear
capacity could be added to the system, and constraints on the speed with which a
new nuclear program could be implemented, investment in new nuclear capacity
would not preclude investment in other forms of low carbon generation.
2.4 . Security of supply
The security of supply benefits were of a smaller order of magnitude than the
environmental benefits. Investment in new nuclear capacity would reduce
the level of total gas consumption and gas imports in 2025. A program to add
a maximum of 6 GW of new nuclear capacity by 2025 would reduce total forecast
gas consumption in 2025 by around 7%. In a world where gas-fired plant is
added to the power system rather than nuclear plant, this increases vulnerability
in the event of a gas supply interruption. Given this vulnerability, the economic
option would be to back up gas-fired plants with oil distillate-switching
capability. In the event of a gas supply interruption, gas-fired plants would then
be able to continue operating by burning oil distillate rather than gas.
If nuclear plant is added rather than gas-fired plant, there is no longer the
need to maintain such back-up capability. One benefit of nuclear generation can
then be seen as the avoided cost of this capability, estimated to be of the order
of £100 � 10 6 per gigawatt . In a more unstable world subject to the possibility of
repeated/prolonged fuel supply interruptions, new nuclear generation can be
viewed as a hedge either against high gas prices or high costs of ongoing electricity
generation using oil.
2.5 .
Balance of costs and benefits
Welfare balance of new nuclear build was positive in the central/high gas price
and central/low nuclear cost worlds, and negative in the low gas price/high
nuclear cost worlds. The welfare balance associated with nuclear new build
relative to a do-nothing scenario where gas-fired plant is added to the power
system is the sum of environmental and security of supply benefits net of any
nuclear cost penalties.
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