Nuclear power Report
Nuclear energy currently provides nearly a quarter of the UK's electricity.
Most of the power stations will close over the next 20 years and there are no plans to build any new nuclear power plants.
Nuclear energy uses Uranium as a fuel to produce electricity.
Nuclear power stations only need refuelling every two years so they don’t depend on regular fuel deliveries to keep operating and there are hardly any carbon emissions.
Nuclear power plants have a good safety record with few accidents, but the consequences of an accident could be very serious. This is because of radioactive waste which needs to be kept very securely.
Nuclear plants can be very expensive to build, but the cost can remain stable because the costs of electricity generated from nuclear do not change greatly even if the cost of uranium goes up.
New research into the design and development of nuclear power is now ongoing so will we see a future of nuclear power stations?