Earlier this year Professor Fitzpatrick, Head of Department Materials Engineering, gave evidence to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee looking at the UK’s Nuclear Research and Development Capabilities.
In its conclusions published recently the committee went further saying the government’s nuclear power strategy is complacent and lacks credibility risking Britain losing its once world leading nuclear expertise, industrial base and infrastructure.
Currently 10 nuclear power stations produce 12 GW of electricity, but all but one will go offline in 15 years. Private companies will build new ‘next generation’ power stations delivering up to 16 GW by 2025.
As well as being Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust Chair in Materials Fabrication and Engineering, Professor Fitzpatrick works with the National Skills Academy for Nuclear on the development of their Certificate in Nuclear Professionalism and he leads the EPSRC PROMINENT consortium, a £1.8M grant researching the performance of metallic materials for applications in nuclear power plants.
The committee said Professor Fitzpatrick’s evidence had acknowledged the need to develop the UK nuclear supply chain to support building the new power stations and allow UK businesses to benefit from the opportunities this would create.
He and others said real opportunities would come in taking a lead now in the development of some of the technologies for future systems so the UK had an exportable technology in two, three or four decades time and take advantage of the £1.7 trillion of investment worldwide in these technologies.
“As a result we are in danger of placing ourselves in a position where we will be unable to ensure a safe and secure supply of nuclear energy up to 2050,” said committee chair Lord Krebs
Speaking after the committee report was published Professor Fitzpatrick said there had been a ‘de-commitment’ towards nuclear by successive governments.
“Energy supply is of vital national importance but there seems to be a lack of will towards implementing a nuclear energy policy.
It was vital he said given the huge lead times needed to plan, design and build nuclear power stations to look beyond the ‘next generation’ to the generation beyond that.
“Nuclear produces about 16 per cent of our electricity now – it used to be 30 per cent,” he said.
It had been replaced by gas and coal with implications for the environment. Renewable sources were unlikely to fill the gap Professor Fitzpatrick said.
“We have made a commitment to cut CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 but we can’t do it without nuclear,” he said.
- Read the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Report here
- Materials Engineering at the OU
