Exploring Domestic Reasons for Cooperation on the Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Project

Abstract

As a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, the British public generally has a negative attitude towards nuclear power, coupled with the lobbying of Greenpeace and other organizations opposed to nuclear energy. Since the completion of the Sizewell B nuclear power plant in 1995, the UK has not built a single new nuclear power plant and has been lagging behind in nuclear energy construction. With climate change and security of supply issues coming to the fore, it was not until the 2006 Energy White Paper that the government put nuclear energy back on the agenda. It took another decades of planning, review and approval before the UK finally signed an agreement with Electricité de France for the construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in 2016. The UK has not built a new nuclear power project for more than 20 years, and this paper analyzes the attitudinal preferences of different actors within the UK behind the cooperation on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project, based on an understanding of the context and current situation of the UK in terms of climate change and security of energy supply.