Economics Of Nuclear Power Programmes In The United Kingdom

Originally published in 1980. More so than any other energy resource, nuclear power has the capacity to provide much of our energy needs but is highly controversial. This book discusses the major British decisions in the civil nuclear field, and the way they were made, between 1953 and 1978. It spans the period between the decision to construct Calder Hall – claimed as the world’s first nuclear power station – and the Windscale Inquiry – claimed as the world's most thorough study of a nuclear project. For the period up to 1974 this involves a study of the internal processes of British central government. The private issues include the technical selection of nuclear reactors, the economic arguments about nuclear power and the political clashes between institutions and individuals. The public issues concern nuclear safety and the environment and the rights and opportunities for individuals and groups to protest about nuclear development. The book demonstrates that British civil nuclear power decision making had many shortcomings and concludes that it was hampered by outdated political and administrative attitudes and machinery and that some of the central issues in the nuclear power debate were misunderstood by the decision makers themselves.

This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the dynamics driving, and constraining, nuclear power development in Asia, Europe and North America, providing detailed comparative analysis. The book formulates a theory of nuclear socio-political economy which highlights six factors necessary for embarking on nuclear power programs: (1) national security and secrecy, (2) technocratic ideology, (3) economic interventionism, (4) a centrally coordinated energy stakeholder network, (5) subordination of opposition to political authority, and (6) social peripheralization. The book validates this theory by confirming the presence of these six drivers during the initial nuclear power developmental periods in eight countries: the United States, France, Japan, Russia (the former Soviet Union), South Korea, Canada, China, and India. The authors then apply this framework as a predictive tool to evaluate contemporary nuclear power trends. They discuss what this theory means for developed and developing countries which exhibit the potential for nuclear development on a major scale, and examine how the new "renaissance" of nuclear power may affect the promotion of renewable energy, global energy security, and development policy as a whole. The volume also assesses the influence of climate change and the recent nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, on the nuclear power industry’s trajectory. This book will be of interest to students of energy policy and security, nuclear proliferation, international security, global governance and IR in general.