In 2004, the UK’s then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, talked about a possible renaissance of nuclear power generation as a means to combat global warming and, over the past few years the current administration seem to be walking the same path albeit with a view to security of energy supply being high on the topical agenda.

In 2007, John Hutton, the then Business Secretary, said that becoming energy independent is not the same as becoming self-sufficient. Instead it means having a mix of energy sources to call upon, including from countries that have open and transparent markets.

“We will always need energy sources from other countries,” Mr. Hutton said. “Our strategy for the UK in the 21st century must focus on ensuring we do not become dependent on any one supplier, country or technology.

“The best way to deal with that uncertainty is to diversify the risk. This is a modern definition of “energy independence” in an interdependent world.”

This stance, of course, raises more questions than it provides answers -
What is the scope for new nuclear power generation given the existing generation capacity stock and its likely evolution?

What are the costs and benefits associated with nuclear relative to a do nothing case where new investment in electricity generation is likely to flow to gas fired plant?

The answers to these questions could be summarised as follows:

Should the private sector take commercial decisions to invest in new nuclear, the economic analysis suggests that there is scope for adding a relatively small amount of new nuclear capacity in the period to 2025.

Nuclear new build could be added to replace existing nuclear plants scheduled for closure; the bulk of the existing fleet will have reached the end of its design life by 2025. In addition, new nuclear capacity might be added to meet demand growth. This would require switching current gas fired base-load plant to operation as mid-merit or peaking plant.

It is likely that the first new nuclear plant could be added by around 2021, if not before, assuming a seven/eight year pre-development period (for pre licensing, public enquiry, licensing, etc.) and construction.

Adding new nuclear capacity could help to reduce forecast carbon emissions, and to reduce the level of forecast gas consumption / imports. Within power generation, new nuclear appears to be a cost effective means for meeting carbon emissions reduction targets. Adding new nuclear capacity would not preclude investment in other forms of low carbon generation.

Investment in nuclear new build would result in carbon abatement cost savings sufficient to offset the nuclear cost penalty relative to gas fired plant in a central gas price scenario.

Adding new nuclear plants would also partially mitigate risks associated with dependence on imported gas. In particular, costs associated with insuring against the risk of fuel supply interruption (e.g. through adding gas storage capacity) could be reduced as nuclear plant is added. Investment in new nuclear capacity would also provide a hedge against the risk of high gas prices.

Nuclear investment is not justified at the higher end of the range of costs, or in a low gas price world, or in a central gas price world where there is no carbon price.

When we raise the nuclear word; we raise the history of fear; a history of mistakes and the unknown. The lack of scientific guarantees, the accidents that were Chernobyl and Windscale (as was) all draw on the fear of the past and the average person in the street worries whether nuclear is the right decision.

To allay fear means confidence and trust must be built; built by the industry, built by the regulators and built by the government. Trust and confidence is underpinned by doing the right thing and this means making sure the latest knowledge is applied, the best practice rules and procedures are in place, and quality/compliance processes are implemented and followed right through the supply chain from Tier 1 downward.

Many companies address quality as a necessity to their operation but it is often seen as an internal business cost, rather than as an asset. In the energy market, especially the nuclear sector, quality compliance has to have the highest regard and is integral to the confidence for the industry to remain effective.

What is often missed with the stereo view of quality is that quality can also be the value-add differentiator that wins new orders, or the catalyst for change/improvement and that bring those additional savings and gives a competitive edge in tough market conditions.

The quality functions within a company can be the major factor that supports the production process and the ultimate delivery to the customer. It is also instrumental to a company in retaining their accreditations and certifications which are required to do business in their particular business sector, without which new business could not be won and existing business cannot be retained.

Proquis clients have stated that their introduction of a Proquis solution demonstrated between 60% and 70% reduction in administrative effort and repetitive workload for the quality team, senior managers and workforce and they achieved their returns on investment in under 12 twelve months.

Therefore, if a company could also save 60% to 70% of that effort, either as a direct reduction, or as a return by allowing the refocusing of your highly skilled quality professionals and managers to produce new improvements and better savings on the core processes (which they currently do not have enough time to review effectively now); then does that not justify time in reviewing the potential of a Proquis solution for your organisation?

Examples of Proquis Clients -

UK Nuclear Sector
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority                                      
US Dept of Energy                                                                                                                                                          
Nuclear Research Dept – Argonne IL

Proquis is an ISV (Independent Software Vendor) of system solutions for the quality and compliancy arena. The Proquis solutions have been very successful in highly regulated sectors like nuclear, defense and aerospace, where there are many stakeholders, including both local/national governments and governmental regulators, each being highly influential in the business operational delivery, strategy and planning.

We would not pretend to know the specific problems facing your business, it has a unique situation, however we would like to gain an initial opportunity to understand those current issues facing your organisation, and discuss if any particular areas could be identified where our assistance could provide an appropriate solution for additional savings and performance improvement.

Acknowledgements – HMG, BBC, Daily Telegraph