It never rains but it pours in the UK鈥檚 nuclear industry. Plans to build new reactors are stalling as yet another company pulls out, and there is still nowhere to store nuclear waste permanently.
The UK has pledged to , compared with 2010 levels. Nuclear reactors supply reliable power with low emissions, so are central to the government鈥檚 plans. But this week, energy company Centrica announced it was , led by EDF Energy, that plans to build four reactors.
It is the latest roadblock for the UK鈥檚 new generation of reactors. In March 2012, another group, , lost its main investors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. The group has since found other backers, and the same may happen in this case.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 clearly a setback,鈥� says Francis Livens of the University of Manchester, UK. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 too early to say the new build is done for.鈥�
What to do with nuclear waste is also an issue. Last week, Cumbria, the only council that had shown an interest in hosting a permanent underground storage facility, . That means the UK鈥檚 main storage site, Sellafield, will have to keep storing waste for decades.
A new report puts , and that looks set to rise. Whatever happens with the new reactors, the UK will have a nuclear legacy for years to come.
