nuclear energy

nuclear energy is obtained by releasing the binding energy which holds together atomic nuclei, for example, in uranium. This fission process was used in the development of the atomic bomb during the Second World War, but by the mid-1950s scientists had been able to control it within the reactor cores of experimental power stations to produce utilizable energy. The nuclear reactor releases energy in the form of heat which is used to generate steam, and the steam to generate electricity. Plutonium, a highly fissile material used in the manufacture of nuclear bombs, is a byproduct.

The Atomic Energy Authority oversaw the development of the nuclear industry, which from the outset proved controversial on strategic, cost, and environmental grounds. When in 1956 power was switched from the first generator at Calder Hall to the National Grid it was hailed as a great achievement but scant attention was paid to the real purpose of the programme, to breed plutonium for Britain's nuclear deterrent. An experimental fast reactor, built at Dounreay in the north of Scotland, began operation in 1959, and paved the way for the first fast-breeder reactor power station.

From the standpoint of the 1950s, discounting the perceived need for a nuclear deterrent during the Cold War, nuclear power seemed an excellent investment, given the likelihood that unit costs could be as little as a fifth that of fossil-fuel electricity. In the ensuing years the industry expanded, though the balance of cost advantage remained uncertain. But the upsurge of oil prices in the 1970s, coupled with uneasy labour relations in the coal-mines, added to the comparative economic attraction of nuclear power, which began to accelerate dramatically, as did the nuclear component of electricity output.

Successive British governments since the 1950s wanted to lessen dependence on petroleum-exporting countries, but with the development of North Sea oil and gas, this was less pressing. Energy requirements in general began to be adjusted as a response to the energy crisis, and this brought about a reassessment of the high-energy role of nuclear power. While in its early stages of development nuclear energy appeared environmentally inoffensive to the general public, increased concern was voiced about its safety following major disasters at power plants internationally during the 1980s, and about the twin problems of waste disposal and decommissioning of redundant plant.

Ian Donnachie