Nuclear History
Posted: 19th October 2025
When it comes to nuclear, [Thatcher] squandered the chance to mould a more
prosperous nation. To understand why the UK now suffers from the highest
industrial energy costs of any developed nation, just turn back the clock.
When Thatcher entered office in 1979, Britain had 14 nuclear power stations
operating from Wylfa in Anglesey to Hunterston in Ayrshire, most of them
built in the 1960s. And she was a keen advocate for expanding nuclear
power, particularly in the wake of the 1970s oil crises. There were other
reasons for its allure. Nigel Lawson, later her chancellor, remarked that
nuclear could be “the means of emancipation from Arthur Scargill” long
before the eventual confrontation with the National Union of Mineworkers.
But Britain had already taken a wrong turn. The big error came in 1965 when
Harold Wilson’s government announced a new generation of 14
British-designed advanced gas-cooled (AGR) reactors, declaring them to be
cheaper and superior to American and European rivals. You can guess what
happened next. The AGR reactors rank up there with Concorde as a British
project where runaway pride trumped rational governance. From Hinkley Point
in Somerset to Dungeness in Kent, they all ran hugely over cost and
suffered delay after delay: the first AGR was due to come online in 1970,
the reality was 1983. Months after Thatcher entered office, and accepting
that North Sea oil and gas would not last forever, the government announced
another new generation of nuclear reactors. The initial plans were for at
least half a dozen reactors, with one opening every year, mostly at
existing power stations, and with the aim of producing half of the
country’s energy by 1990. Yet Sizewell B was the only one to be built,
itself delayed thanks to a three-year public inquiry that took 18 million
words of evidence to conclude that, on a balance, it was right to crack on.
By the time the station came online in 1995, the money and will to keep
going was gone and the UK had lost its nuclear edge. Britain Remade
campaign group set out a range of more sweeping reforms to environmental
law to limit the opportunities for successive challenges and get the cost
of construction down. That is the only way to ensure the UK is no longer
the most expensive place on the planet to build nuclear. Another lesson is
knowing when to accept Britain is not world beating and just follow best
practices elsewhere. If they work, the UK has a chance to be world beating
again, thanks to the innovative work being done at Rolls Royce. But putting
all the onus on untested technology risks repeating the mistakes of the
past.
Times 16th Oct 2025
https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/labour-can-learn-from-thatchers-nuclear-blunder-f9mcv5zmq