Introduction
We all depend on energy to enrich our lives: to provide hot water and heat for our homes and offices, to transport things by road, rail, sea and air, and to fuel a variety of industrial processes required for British-made goods. These are all essential services in a thriving society.
But the energy system we rely on to deliver this is facing an overhaul.
Carbon emissions have been a harmful by-product of our energy use for centuries. They contribute to climate change, endangering our lives and those of future generations. Reducing and then eliminating them, however, is neither easy nor straightforward.
Fossil fuels like petrol and natural gas make up 75% of the energy we consume today in the UK – primarily used in heating and transportation – and there is no like-for-like swap for many energy applications. Changing the system takes investment, planning and innovation.
The UK is committed to legally-binding targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. To be successful in this, we will need to look at all the solutions that make a meaningful contribution to the 2050 target, whilst keeping costs down and shoring up our energy security and sovereignty.
A new clear future
We spoke to people nationally, and in local settings with different relationships to designated nuclear sites, to understand where public opinion sits.
The UK has already taken huge strides forward in ramping up its production of low-carbon electricity through energy sources like wind and solar. But it has become clear that nuclear is also going to play a bigger part in the future. It needs to.
Nuclear in the UK is not new. It has long been a reliable element of our clean electricity portfolio, and independent analysis has shown that nuclear is vital in the UK’s energy mix if we want the most cost-effective and secure route to net zero.
Yet almost all of the nuclear plants the UK has relied on for decades to provide clean electricity are due to come off-line by 2030.
The build of Hinkley Point C, which is expected to provide electricity for around 6 million homes each year, is only the start of replacing the electricity historically generated by nuclear. That is before you take into account what will be needed by 2050, or to support the wider energy transition.
Nuclear hasn’t always been a favourable option in the UK. Even policymakers who understand the benefits of nuclear will naturally worry about its economic viability, its ability to make a difference to the 2050 net zero targets and its acceptability among the general public.
Our independent polling
Understanding current UK perceptions of nuclear
Comparing three local settings – each with existing but different relationships to nuclear – against the national population
Can we have new nuclear?
There is a real opportunity to make nuclear a key part of the UK’s energy future once again, but our findings show there is a need for more communication and engagement.
Our independent polling shows that the prospect of nuclear is very much open for reasonable debate – and that there is genuine willingness, not just general pragmatism, towards looking at what nuclear offers.
This is both at a macro level - with recognition of nuclear's importance for UK energy security and net zero - and at a micro level, from the prospect of local and regional benefits through new nuclear investment.
Despite self-reported levels of knowledge about nuclear being very low among the general public, 3 in 10 (32%) people nationally would live as close as 10 miles from a reactor. Indeed, many of those living near existing sites are more knowledgeable and positive about nuclear than the general population.
What the public does know about nuclear is largely fed by media and culture rather than official sources or the education system. This is allowing concerns to go unaddressed and unallayed, and the facts and realities misunderstood.
The appetite is there however to know more. A greater understanding of nuclear tends to lead to greater support. So, rather than nuclear being something that decision and policymakers should be wary of embracing, the scene is set for people to have constructive conversations.
Can we achieve decarbonisation and regional growth?
Decarbonisation involves the whole energy system
The energy transition requires us to decarbonise all our sources of energy.
Further electrification will help take us towards net zero. This in itself means we will need to meet a growing electricity demand through low-carbon sources. But this is only one part of the challenge.
Decarbonising heavy industry and heavy transport will need to be tackled differently, as these vital sectors of the economy are much less suited to electrification.
Without a successful strategy for this, the UK faces key risks: the continued growth and vitality of these UK industries, major changes to the ways we live and work, relying on high levels of carbon offsetting or missing 2050 decarbonisation deadlines entirely.
As we look to the coming decades, the UK will need to factor in a range of solutions to decarbonise beyond just electricity.
This document will set out how nuclear could play a key role here.
A national challenge can be a regional opportunity
We know that, whilst net zero is a national endeavour, towns and cities up and down the UK will be considering what impact the energy transition will have on local livelihoods, infrastructure and regional economies.
This document is intended to bring clarity to the ways nuclear could benefit the UK on a regional as well as a national level, particularly for rural or highly industrialised areas.