Nuclear Power In Britain Research Articles

Nuclear Power in Britain: A series of successful failures

Nuclear Power in Britain: A series of successful failures

Governance, depoliticization, and nuclear power in Britain and the United States

ABSTRACT Governance is a form of statecraft used to work through networks. A complementary perspective to governance is depoliticization which considers statecraft under neoliberalism. This article argues that depoliticization is a way of practicing governance. Depoliticization techniques can be understood as institutional, societal, or discursive and each technique is associated with a particular style of governance. Case studies of government efforts to revive nuclear power in Britain and the United States [US] through governance are used to consider the argument and extend the literature on depoliticization. Evidence is presented that a failure to realize policy goals through governance may be due to the use of inappropriate techniques of depoliticization.

The Fall and Rise of Nuclear Power in Britain . By Simon Taylor.

<i>The Fall and Rise of Nuclear Power in Britain</i> . By Simon Taylor.

Nuclear power and energy policy: the limits to governance

1. A Revival of Nuclear Power? 2. The Political Economy of Nuclear Power 3. Governance and the Limits of Governance Theory 4. A Framework for Understanding Governance in Practice 5. A Revival of Nuclear Power in Britain 6. A Revival of Nuclear Power in the United States 7. A Revival of Nuclear Power in France 8. A Revival of Nuclear Power in Finland 9. Conclusions: The Limits of Governance

Power failures: metagoverning a revival of nuclear power in Britain

The British Government is attempting, through metagovernance, to encourage a transition to a low carbon electricity generation industry by promoting a revival of nuclear power. This paper considers the barriers that the British Government might encounter by analysing its metagovernance efforts within the context of a dynamic, co-evolving socio-technical regime. It is shown that the British Government’s attempts to metagovern a transition to nuclear power are likely to fail. This is because the British Government has failed to secure the support of a number of important stakeholders, is pursuing an unrealistic policy, is subject to critical dependencies, and cannot easily exercise authority over a complex network. The paper concludes by arguing that these failures are due to the British Government’s inability to understand the process by which transitions occur.

Assessing the prospects for a revival of nuclear power in Britain

Historical institutionalism is used to examine why successive British governments have had difficulties wrestling with the policy issues surrounding the promotion of nuclear power. Attention is drawn to the role of institutions and path dependency in creating the situation in which policy decisions have been taken. Analysis of documents and interviews with key participants was carried out. It is shown that nuclear power is seen by politicians as a solution to the problems of energy security and climate change. The British government faces a number of obstacles to overseeing a revival of nuclear power. These obstacles are imposed by shortages in the supply chain for key components, the operation of the electricity market itself, the complexity of the Britain’s regulatory system, and critical shortages in manpower in regulatory agencies. These obstacles have all arisen from the consequences of previous political decisions.

Nuclear Futures: Assessing Public Attitudes to New Nuclear Power

The nuclear debate has become once again a ‘live’ policy issue in UK national politics, with far-reaching implications for a diverse range of stakeholders. There is now a new policy rationale for the consideration of new-build nuclear power in the context of climate change and a low carbon economy. In a rapidly evolving public policy context there is a strategic need for a clearer picture of public and community perceptions of nuclear power and wider community issues, and for examining whether such insight can be integrated into policy and decision-making processes. The paper explores the state of public and community perceptions of nuclear power in Britain, at several levels, assessing potential factors likely to govern future responses to nuclear power.

Autonomy's End

Despite their obvious limitations as explanatory concepts, `technological autonomy' and `determinism' have often been associated with nuclear power. This paper reviews the persistency of notions of `autonomy' and `determinism' in the context of the British nuclear power programme. In the corporatist and technocratic setting of the nationalized British Electricity Supply Industry (ESI), the perceived imperatives of nuclear power technology were often allowed priority in policymaking, to the extent that an appearance of the technology's autonomy and determinism was maintained for 30 years. This had its conveniences: technical rationales disguised more contestable institutional and political interests supporting the programme. At the same time, senior politicians and scientists at times displayed a faith in the technology approximating a belief in its autonomy and deterministic power, particularly during geopolitical or industrial crises. ESI privatization was associated with the marginalization of nuclear power in Britain. Once the Government's wider mission to liberalize electricity supply was threatened by unanticipated disclosures regarding the cost of nuclear electricity, it proved willing to abandon its longstanding support for the technology. As institutional and political support for the nuclear programme was removed, the fallacy of its supposed autonomy was exposed. Whilst Langdon Winner accurately identified the preconditions necessary for the introduction of inherently political technologies such as nuclear power, in reality these were ever-present requirements, however hidden by the apparent power of the technology itself. Nevertheless, the persistence of notions of autonomy and determinism reflects a significant aspect of the sociotechnical relations of nuclear power.

Policing plutonium: Issues in the provision of policing services at nuclear facilities and for related materials in Transit

This paper examines the policing issues arising from nuclear power. After outlining the general security problems associated with the production of nuclear material, the paper considers two issues: site security and the secure movement of material in transit. In the latter case, increased international movement in nuclear material poses new and complex problems concerning the co-ordination of policing and the appropriate jurisdiction of police and security forces. The paper also considers the policing of nuclear power in Britain, looking at the role of the Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary (AEAC) and its relationship to other civil police forces: a relationship which exposes profound operational and constitional contradictions. The concluding section first discusses the problems of achieving an appropriate balance between secrecy, security and civil liberties in a “nuclear state”, finally considering how the issues discussed here relate to wider debates about policing and social control.

BOOK REVIEWS

The Political QuarterlyVolume 62, Issue 2 p. 294-313 BOOK REVIEWS First published: April 1991 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.1991.tb00861.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Book reviews in this article: The British Conquest and Dominion of India. By Sir Penderel Moon. The Economic Failure of Nuclear Power in Britain. By Alex Henney. The Imaginary War: Understanding the East-West Conflict. By Mary Kaldor. Eunomia: New Order for a New World. By Philip Allott. The Political Theory of Swedish Social Democracy: Through the Welfare State to Socialism. By Tim Tilton. Sweden: Social Democracy in Practice. By Henry Milner Ideology and Strategy: A Century of Swedish Politics. By Leif Lewin. Lords of Fleet Street: The Harmsworth Dynasty. By Richard Bourne. Rawls: A Theory of Justice and its Critics. By Chandran Kukathas and Philip Pettit. State, Community and Human Desire: A Group Centred Account of Political Values. By Antony Black. Politics in the Streets: The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland. By Bob Purdie. Volume62, Issue2April 1991Pages 294-313 RelatedInformation

Sizewell: the decision?

The future of nuclear power in Britain depends on the government's decision on the Central Electricity Generating Board's plan to build a pressurised water reactor nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast at Sizewell. After sitting for a record 340 days, listening to 200 witnesses and analysing 16 million words of evidence, Sir Frank Layfield published his report in January.

Lessons of nuclear power French ‘success’ and the breeder

In an earlier article the author has argued that the turbulent history of nuclear power in Britain and the USA stems from the technology itself, and has little to do with the very different institutional arrangements made for the new technology in the two countries. Nuclear plant has various features which make its planning extraordinarily difficult. Its long lead time, large unit size, capital intensity and dependence on complex infrastructure combine to ensure that mistakes are likely to be made in planning the technology and that what mistakes do occur are expensive. This article aims to expand on the earlier one in two ways; by looking at the apparent success of the French nuclear programme which seems to run counter to the thesis of the earlier article, and by trying to draw lessons from the earlier analysis for the breeder reactor.

Nuclear power in Britain: The case for a new approach

Recent criticisms point to the way British nuclear policy has been made up of a succession of poor decisions badly arrived at. But these criticisms do not go to the heart of the matter. A new approach is needed to decision‐taking in this area, and in energy policy as a whole.

The development of gas-cooled reactors

A survey of the development of gas-cooled reactors for the generation of nuclear power in Britain - from the research reactors at Harwell in 1947-48 to the experimental Dragon reactor now in operation at Winfrith.

Development of Nuclear Power in Britain

Development of Nuclear Power in Britain

Nuclear Power in Britain

Nuclear Power in Britain

Nuclear Power in Britain

Nuclear Power in Britain

Industry and Nuclear Power in Britain

Industry and Nuclear Power in Britain

Development of Nuclear Power in Britain

Development of Nuclear Power in Britain