The Government also has to prioritise alternatives over the next 12 months to ensure the unreliability of nuclear power does not lead to the lights going off around the country.’ According to Roche, unplanned shutdowns cause ‘major headaches’ for planners trying to ensure a consistent and reliable supply of electricity to homes and offices. He pointed out that on November 20, seven of the UK’s 15 reactors were offline while five were operating with reduced outputs, meaning that nuclear power was supplying only 43% of the electricity it should. This contrasted with wind power, which varied in a much more predictable manner, he said. In the first half of 2014, renewable energy from wind, hydro and other sources produced more power in Scotland than nuclear stations. The worst record belongs to Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent, which had to be shut down 21 times between 2012 and 2014. The two Torness reactors were shut down 10 times over the same period.
Photo: ‘Power‘ by Gary Henderson under the license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0