The 1989 privatisation of the electricity supply industry (ESI) proved hugely embarrassing for the UK's nuclear sector. With performance and costs scrutinised as never before, the nuclear stations were ultimately revealed as unsaleable-forcing a reluctant, and palpably irritated Government to make last-minute provisions for retaining all the UK's nuclear capacity within the public sector. The author describes how, faced with the prospect of a slow decline into insignificance, the UK nuclear industry is now looking to the Government for a new lease of life.
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