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The Fall and Rise of Nuclear Power in Britain: A history
Britain was a pioneer in civil nuclear power and there were high hopes in the 1950s that this could be a source of cheap electricity and a valuable export opportunity. In The Fall and Rise of Nuclear Power in Britain, Simon Taylor looks at why these hopes were never realised, and how we have come to see a new rise in nuclear power in recent years. Throughout the book, Taylor looks at: energy policy, economics, politics and changing environmental priorities. Will this new nuclear energy turn out to be a heroic story of UK leadership on a matter of global importance, or will prove a hugely costly folly, as with British nuclear power in the past?
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 25, 2024
Incredibly clear and concise.
Key lessons:
- take obvious path most of the time (don’t try and develop fancy reactors if AP1000 basically works)
- foster and maintain indigenous capability where it exists. Sensibly try to develop it where it does not.
- don’t let perfect be enemy of good (commit to programme even if option value of waiting for extra £1 NPV)
- need to create whole system that supports goals; HMT held to account for delivering projects, not just VfM. Planning system and regulators must be properly staffed and set up efficiently.
- energy getting more expensive; HPC clearly brilliant deal now but 2016 people much more worried.
- doing projects is hard; none of expected projects described in book made it to FID
- energy security trumps all other considerations
Key lessons:
- take obvious path most of the time (don’t try and develop fancy reactors if AP1000 basically works)
- foster and maintain indigenous capability where it exists. Sensibly try to develop it where it does not.
- don’t let perfect be enemy of good (commit to programme even if option value of waiting for extra £1 NPV)
- need to create whole system that supports goals; HMT held to account for delivering projects, not just VfM. Planning system and regulators must be properly staffed and set up efficiently.
- energy getting more expensive; HPC clearly brilliant deal now but 2016 people much more worried.
- doing projects is hard; none of expected projects described in book made it to FID
- energy security trumps all other considerations
February 20, 2016
Very precise narrative of the nuclear power industry in the UK from its fast-track progress in the 1950s to uncertainty in the 1970s, and how that led to a renewed interest when the Climate Change Act became law in 2008. Uncluttered, considered, tone works well for this topic.
August 14, 2024
A worthy scene-setter, especially for someone relatively ignorant of nuclear energy like me, but now a little out of date.
From 1945 to 2015 the UK nuclear industry thrived and failed, it was discarded and encouraged, lambasted and heralded. This book by Simon Taylor presents these ups and downs in clear language, never getting too complex when explaining either the workings of a power plant nor the financial practices used to build and run one (though I did consistently have to refer to the glossary when it came to acronyms). Scientists may well be disappointed but, for novices like me, it’s to its credit.
Politicos wanting to view this issue through an ideological lens are also set for a let-down. It is a factual book that only offers views so evidenced that they are, in essence, indisputable: for instance, nuclear power in Britain needs state support and that the 2008 Climate Change Act has transformed energy policy in the UK. Of course, this makes the style somewhat dry but with its largely sky-blue front cover and dense description, it never claims to be anything else; and the juicy subject matter makes up for it.
However, there are fundamental issues that come with this lack of criticism, not least that by the end it’s all too easy to see the fall and rise of nuclear power in the UK as an inevitable series of events and decisions. Britain’s own attempt at a reactor was always destined to fail…the industry would always have declined with the privatisation programme in the eighties…it was unavoidable that it would be adopted once again once climate change had been accepted.
Where Taylor is critical in his analysis it is both more interesting and, indeed, instructive, and as such the chapter on the 2011 Fukushima incident is a standout; something which he blames largely on Japan’s secretive practices. This though – much like the incident – is an exception rather than a rule and for the most part it limits itself to the basic narrative and facts, some of which are now out of date; Brexit, a growth in anti-China sentiment and the increasing alarm about the environmental state of the world surely having had major consequences.
It provides a basic background, just don’t expect much more.
From 1945 to 2015 the UK nuclear industry thrived and failed, it was discarded and encouraged, lambasted and heralded. This book by Simon Taylor presents these ups and downs in clear language, never getting too complex when explaining either the workings of a power plant nor the financial practices used to build and run one (though I did consistently have to refer to the glossary when it came to acronyms). Scientists may well be disappointed but, for novices like me, it’s to its credit.
Politicos wanting to view this issue through an ideological lens are also set for a let-down. It is a factual book that only offers views so evidenced that they are, in essence, indisputable: for instance, nuclear power in Britain needs state support and that the 2008 Climate Change Act has transformed energy policy in the UK. Of course, this makes the style somewhat dry but with its largely sky-blue front cover and dense description, it never claims to be anything else; and the juicy subject matter makes up for it.
However, there are fundamental issues that come with this lack of criticism, not least that by the end it’s all too easy to see the fall and rise of nuclear power in the UK as an inevitable series of events and decisions. Britain’s own attempt at a reactor was always destined to fail…the industry would always have declined with the privatisation programme in the eighties…it was unavoidable that it would be adopted once again once climate change had been accepted.
Where Taylor is critical in his analysis it is both more interesting and, indeed, instructive, and as such the chapter on the 2011 Fukushima incident is a standout; something which he blames largely on Japan’s secretive practices. This though – much like the incident – is an exception rather than a rule and for the most part it limits itself to the basic narrative and facts, some of which are now out of date; Brexit, a growth in anti-China sentiment and the increasing alarm about the environmental state of the world surely having had major consequences.
It provides a basic background, just don’t expect much more.
July 26, 2026
A multi-faceted historiography on the development of nuclear powered generation in Britain over the last 80 years.
Simon Taylor gives a complete account of how nuclear power was first developed in the UK through the Magnox reactor design through to the Advanced Gas Reactors (AGRs) and now the Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs) being built at Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C.
It is a breathtaking deep dive into the trade-offs different polticians, civil servants and policy-makers had to make to enable nuclear power development. For example, the competitiveness with coal was a key factor in the 1970s and 80s, and later after the introduction of the Climate Change Act, the urgency to meet carbon budgets meant that waiting for a higher carbon price and forthcoming private sector investment was not feasible.
The policy machine had to work out a proposal over a period of 10 years to enable the construction of Hinckley Point C which contained a three-pronged investment guarantee in the form of debt underwriting, equity (protection of failure risk for shareholders) and poltiical change. It is an insight into how complicated building a Nuclear project can become and how delays beset the commencement of projects precisely due to their scale, complexity, assessment of need and political/public acceptance.
The book compares Nuclear with CCS a couple of times in different sections, again showing how policy-makers where hoping for mass CCS power development to mitigate the need for new nuclear. Reading the book in 2026, 10 years after its publication justifies its argument that "CCS is unlikely to be deployed at scale if at all" and that Nuclear despite its high cost and delivery issues is the only way to complete the decarbonisation story in the power sector.
Finally, the book is impressive with a section on what is an acceptable return for investors in a nuclear project. It sets out different approaches and how the state guarantee on debt was a point of contestation with the European Commission State Aid regime.
I reccommend this book to anyone interested in energy policy or the Nuclear Sector, it is a complete analysis of the poltical, social, economic and financing story of Nuclear power in Britain.
Simon Taylor gives a complete account of how nuclear power was first developed in the UK through the Magnox reactor design through to the Advanced Gas Reactors (AGRs) and now the Pressurised Water Reactors (PWRs) being built at Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C.
It is a breathtaking deep dive into the trade-offs different polticians, civil servants and policy-makers had to make to enable nuclear power development. For example, the competitiveness with coal was a key factor in the 1970s and 80s, and later after the introduction of the Climate Change Act, the urgency to meet carbon budgets meant that waiting for a higher carbon price and forthcoming private sector investment was not feasible.
The policy machine had to work out a proposal over a period of 10 years to enable the construction of Hinckley Point C which contained a three-pronged investment guarantee in the form of debt underwriting, equity (protection of failure risk for shareholders) and poltiical change. It is an insight into how complicated building a Nuclear project can become and how delays beset the commencement of projects precisely due to their scale, complexity, assessment of need and political/public acceptance.
The book compares Nuclear with CCS a couple of times in different sections, again showing how policy-makers where hoping for mass CCS power development to mitigate the need for new nuclear. Reading the book in 2026, 10 years after its publication justifies its argument that "CCS is unlikely to be deployed at scale if at all" and that Nuclear despite its high cost and delivery issues is the only way to complete the decarbonisation story in the power sector.
Finally, the book is impressive with a section on what is an acceptable return for investors in a nuclear project. It sets out different approaches and how the state guarantee on debt was a point of contestation with the European Commission State Aid regime.
I reccommend this book to anyone interested in energy policy or the Nuclear Sector, it is a complete analysis of the poltical, social, economic and financing story of Nuclear power in Britain.
June 10, 2026
A fantastically written book covering the history of the nuclear industry in the UK with a detailed dive into nuclear financing that can’t be found elsewhere (apart from maybe Simon’s other book).
It fantastically lays the groundwork and builds from the 20th Century, through the CEGB and BE era until the mid 2010’s, leaving us at the early stages of Hinkley Point C and the future outlook of the time.
This was an enjoyable read as I both developed my understanding of the financing of nuclear power plants (I’m guilty of just using the large simplified headlines usually!), but also gave me insight into why certain projects were pursued by companies at a given time and how the political aspect attracted private companies to construct such enormous projects.
An interesting thing about this book is you have to go to the appendices to read about how nuclear actually works, which is quite refreshing as books in the nuclear sector usually start off with complicated nuclear science for the first three chapters.
It’s a testament to Simon being a subject matter expert that he covers the content of this book without nuclear propaganda (which I’m usually a sucker for) or anti-nuclear skepticism but determining the shifting arguments for and against nuclear in government and public opinions.
I would be more than interested to read another book in the series that could cover the cost overruns of HPC and emerging SMR / AMR projects in the UK as it was quite funny to read about the CfD stipulations around how the government would be protected if HPC came in under-budget and quicker than planned!
Well worth a read.
It fantastically lays the groundwork and builds from the 20th Century, through the CEGB and BE era until the mid 2010’s, leaving us at the early stages of Hinkley Point C and the future outlook of the time.
This was an enjoyable read as I both developed my understanding of the financing of nuclear power plants (I’m guilty of just using the large simplified headlines usually!), but also gave me insight into why certain projects were pursued by companies at a given time and how the political aspect attracted private companies to construct such enormous projects.
An interesting thing about this book is you have to go to the appendices to read about how nuclear actually works, which is quite refreshing as books in the nuclear sector usually start off with complicated nuclear science for the first three chapters.
It’s a testament to Simon being a subject matter expert that he covers the content of this book without nuclear propaganda (which I’m usually a sucker for) or anti-nuclear skepticism but determining the shifting arguments for and against nuclear in government and public opinions.
I would be more than interested to read another book in the series that could cover the cost overruns of HPC and emerging SMR / AMR projects in the UK as it was quite funny to read about the CfD stipulations around how the government would be protected if HPC came in under-budget and quicker than planned!
Well worth a read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews