‘Stars are aligned’ for new nuclear units in UK: Rolls executive

摘要

The “stars are aligned” for construction of new power reactors in the UK, an executive at Rolls-Royce said June 18. While the push for low-carbon power generation in Europe and political support for nuclear plant construction in the UK meant that the climate for nuclear energy in the country was encouraging, the nuclear industry “has to do its part,” Alan Woods, Rolls-Royce’s director of strategy and business development, noted during a London webinar on small modular reactors. The webinar was organized by the New Nuclear Watch Institute, a pro-nuclear power think tank set up by former UK energy minister Tim Yeo. The nuclear industry must provide “an economic price point that the world can live with” for reactor construction, as well as “talking about the benefits” of nuclear energy to the public, Woods said. The “industry needs to be more balanced and not so defensive,” Woods said. He suggested that the industry should talk about aspects of nuclear energy in addition to safety, as a sole focus on safety issues creates public concern that nuclear plants might be unsafe. “When we do talk publicly, all we do is talk about safety, which makes the public think about safety,” Woods said.