Britain should dominate mini-nukes – instead we risk being humiliated by the French

Mini nuclear reactors

We have world-leading technology. We have cutting-edge science. And we have the companies and the expertise to build the equipment. As the demand for mini nuclear reactors starts to take off, Britain should be leading the world.

And yet, as The Telegraph reported on Saturday, one of the most promising start-ups has been persuaded to build a factory in France rather than the UK. There is a pattern here, and it is a very troubling one.

From nuclear power itself, to potentially fusion, and now mini-nukes as well, the UK keeps blowing its lead – and that needs to start changing if we are to have any hope of maintaining our industrial base.

In a world where everyone is trying to work out a way of hitting net zero targets without being completely reliant on wind and solar power, and where energy security has to be increased if we are not to depend on gas from a volatile Middle East, mini nuclear reactors should be one of the most exciting technologies to emerge this decade.

Small modular reactors as they are known in the industry are far cheaper to build than traditional power plants, they can be deployed quickly, and they can plug in gaps in the electrical network at relatively low cost.

They fill a very clear space in the market. Even better, they are an industry where the UK has a technical lead, with Rolls-Royce, and more recently Newcleo, taking a world leading position in technology.

Any sane government would be throwing its full weight behind the industry, to strengthen the British economy, to create lots of jobs and tax revenues, and to generate more of our own energy domestically instead of always relying on expensive imports.

But not, unfortunately, this one. This weekend, we have learned that Newcleo is likely to build a £4bn factory in France instead of the UK, after being wooed by President Macron, and ignored by the Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden. Right now, we risk being humiliated by the French, and losing an industry that we should be leading.

It is not the first time this has happened. The UK opened the world’s first nuclear power station way back in 1956 in Calder Hall, taking a lead in the industry at a time when oil was still so cheap no one really bothered about the cost.

At its peak in 1997, nuclear accounted for 27pc of our electricity. And yet since then it has gone into steady decline, and now accounts for only 16pc of the power we use.

By contrast, France has taken a decisive lead. It now has 56 working reactors, supplying more than 70pc of the country’s energy needs. Indeed, France has so much nuclear power that it has turned into a major exporter, feeding power into the grid in both the UK and Germany. It is now the biggest net energy exporter in Europe.

Likewise, in nuclear fusion, the UK has some of the most advanced science in the world, and has put plans in place for the world’s first commercial fusion generator. And yet on current form we would hardly be surprised to learn a rival plant was about to open in Lyon while the British plan was still held up by a judicial review.

Time and time again, the UK comes up with the science, but it is France that makes it happen.

In reality, France gets two big things right. First, there is the political will to make things happen. Emmanuel Macron may sometimes appear a little too smug, and certainly too pleased with himself.

And yet there is no question that he can be a fantastic salesman for France Inc. He was in Davos last week schmoozing the world’s business elite while our Prime Minister was battling for survival in the House of Commons.

He invites everyone who matters to extravagant dinners in Versailles, and is always ready to pick up the phone to close a deal. It is hardly surprising that commercial leaders feel they have a direct line to the top.

They do. In the UK, by contrast, you have to deal with the officials at the local council, and even then they have to sort out re-routing the recycling bins and repainting the yellow lines before they get around to looking at your nuclear plans.

Next, France’s planning system is vastly superior to ours. We have already seen with projects such as HS2 that the UK is now one of the most expensive countries in the world to get anything built.

We can now add nuclear to the list. If the new Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset opens on schedule in 2028, and no one would want to bet on it, it will be the second most expensive nuclear power plant ever built anywhere in the world.

The Britain Remade think tank estimates that Britain now ranks 15th out of 16 nations for construction costs of nuclear generating capacity. On the other side of the channel, obstructions are simply brushed aside.

Sure, the French police with their tasers and water cannons can sometimes look a little heavy-handed, to put it mildly. But they sure know how to deal with any Extinction Rebellion-style protestors who have taken it upon themselves to block the construction of a nuclear power plant that has the personal backing of the Élysée Palace.

Sunak has described nuclear energy as the “perfect antidote” to the energy crisis. Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, only this month published a “nuclear roadmap” that stuck with the target of generating a quarter of our energy from splitting atoms by 2050.

If that is to happen, however, we need to start learning a few lessons from our neighbours on the other side of the Channel.

Mini-nukes would be the perfect industry to start with, because if we let France steal the industry from us it will be a national humiliation.

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