Deal for new nuclear power station signed

“Thank goodness there are still sensible people out there looking at viable, sensible and long lived energy production. All the rubbish talked about wind farms and solar has worn very thin now and anyone who actually thinks they are realistic options for major electricity production is, frankly, daft. Nuclear is by far the best option - lets embrace this news and hope all goes ahead with construction.”

“A step in the right direction to solving our power generation problems.”

“To reply to the guy promoting fast reactors, the UK wasted a king's ransom at Dounreay on this 'dream' ...if a technology is so good it shouldn't need billions in subsidies...There are still vast reserves of fossil fuels if man keeps improving the efficiency of energy use...as is the case..just looks at mpg for the typical car as an example of free market driven change.
And Chernobyl fears were not exactly scare mongering for the people of Fukashima...”

“Let's be honest, the price of energy is going to rise no matter what mix of generation methods we use. Wind and wave requires large subsidies (and cannot be used for baseload power), nuclear requires a lot of outlay and a long-term decomissioning provision and oil and gas prices are only ever going to rise as they get more scarce (we're too reliant on Russia for gas anyway).
Nuclear will always be part of the mix, and we need to at least replace the capacity we have. Whether off-the-shelf international designs can bring the cost down remains to be seen, but we need to get away from the "Oh, no, Chernobyl" hysteria that has held it back for so long - it's irrational.”

“We're still going with yesterday's technology, carrying all its ant-nuke baggage regarding safety (because it works at high pressure) and the creation of long-lived waste (because it burns only 1% of the energy available from the uranium fuel).

The Government knows we are uniquely placed to lead the world into the era of new nuclear technology - that of the breeder reactor.

A Gen IV, GE Hitachi PRISM Power Block is under consideration to burn our plutonium stockpile and produce 622 MW of commercial electricity for over 50 years. The minuscule waste produced decays to background radiation levels in only 300 years.

A fleet of PRISM PBs could generate all of the UK's electricity for the next 500 years, from our legacy waste, which includes 35,000 tonnes of depleted uranium.

These reactors operate at atmospheric pressure and could be manufactured in their entirety in the UK. They are inherently and passively safe, shutting down according to the laws of physics, without human intervention, under the worst conceivable accident conditions.

At one fell swoop, a fleet of these reactors would: meet our carbon targets; give us 500 years of energy security; eliminate the need for nuclear waste repositories; provide the safest and most environmentally friendly form of power generation; boost UK manufacturing and prosperity to levels not seen in 3 generations.

Make sure your MP gets to know about this opportunity for the country. Google: "prisms to power the uk"”

“While the USA will benefit from shale gas bonanza our industry and consumers will have to be crippled by subsidy for new nukes.....if a technology can't stand on its own feet after 60 years of R&D and endless subsidies maybe it should be binned....”

“@clv101 As the select committee has been sitting to discuss this, it has been made quite clear that the government is quite keen to get nuclear up and running as soon as humanly possible.
They are definitely under the impression that these power stations are going to be built with in the next decade.”

“This is not confirmation that a new reactors will the built. The £700m is just for Horizon. Hitachi's Advanced Boiling Water Reactors has not even been submitted for their safety case yet (a multi-year process) and without government support there's no indication Hitachi are willing and able to invest the billions required to built.

What Hitachi have done is bought an 'option' to build. Whether or not they exercise that option is still totally up in the air and almost certainly requires new support from Westminster, of which there is no guarantee.”

“Brilliant...hopefully this will take the need away for the Severn barrage, wind turbines and fields of solar panels.”

“Can local MP's or government officials tell us who will pay in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident and thousands of local homes declared out of bounds and valueless for 50 to 100 years?”