Rising to the challenge - the changing face of Nuclear Electric

Abstract

Nuclear power was hurriedly with drawn from the UK electricity supply industry privatisation programme in 1989. The Government's decision to do so was because of the industry's poor track record and the apparently crippling liabilities for decommissioning and waste management that arose from the previous 30 years of operation under the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB). Here, the author describes how, following the late withdrawal of nuclear power from privatisation, Nuclear Electric set out on the giant task of demonstrating that it could be commercially competitive.